‘She’s still young to it-
this body that she wears like a garland.
It hasn’t started slashing her skin
through the gaze of others-
still too early for her to tell
the glint of lust apart.’
| T |
he first time I read these lines by Naima Rashid, their gravity had me in a chokehold. It was like being hit with ice-cold water, a punch in the gut that yanks you back to the reality that you were trying to escape. You know those moments when you’re reading something, and some words, a phrase, or a paragraph settle over you like a heavy blanket or a thick mist that you cannot shake off, no matter how much you try? That is how this poem, titled Garland, settled over me as I read it on a cold December night wrapped in my blanket, the chill of the outside presenting a stark contrast to the turmoil, a storm inside me. The poem not only resonated with me and I’m pretty sure, any woman, a girl, will resonate with it as much as I did. The narration of a girl, a young innocent girl unaware of the slashes of the male gaze, untouched by the world and yet shaped by it, waiting for the day when the uninvited gaze and a maze of thorns will consume her. It was suffocating to realise that the girl was not mere fiction; it was me, it was every other girl that grows up to be a woman.
The aforementioned poem, Garland, prompted me to finish Naima Rashid’s recent anthology, Sum of Worlds - Poems, within a couple of days. Naima Rashid has penned down a heartfelt and exhilarating collection of poems encompassing a myriad of themes. Through evocative language, she has weaved a tapestry of diverse themes including identity, belonging, longing, faith, motherhood and womanhood. The book comprises 95 poems ranging from one-word compositions to longer pieces, foregrounding various themes. She is dauntless in her use of language and composes a lyrical ballad of characters struggling with their identity and grappling with themes of loss, heartbreak, nostalgia, freedom, etc. It serves as a perfect blend of emotions and tears for every poetry lover and resonates with every person trying to find their place in the fast-paced world we are living in.
Comprising short, meaning-laden poems, the book is a short yet thought-provoking read that will invoke a multiplicity of emotions in its readers.
In between poems like Garland, which talks about the baggage that comes with being a woman, Nani Never Lies presents the detrimental effects one’s taunting words can have, and Attempt at Apology, which narrates what it’s like to be a mother, Naima paints a vivid picture of human experience. She gives words to the inner turmoil that comes with being a woman, a mother, an immigrant, or someone who is on a quest to find themselves and asks everyone to just settle down and let her deal with her simmering “cauldron-ful of soul.”
‘Could everyone just get up
and serve themselves
for while you fret over your kettles and your teacups
I’ve got a cauldron-ful of soul
Simmering - do you mind?’
Naima’s words are simple yet effective. Her simple diction is sure to leave a lasting impact on her readers. Her terse style of delivery gives just enough to the readers to stop and think, not only making them restless at her probing questions and statements but also prompting them to act and react. Each word is purposely crafted, and each phrase is woven with utmost care to convey the deep meaning, showcasing a carefully crafted tapestry of human life. The most striking feature of Naima’s work that stood out to me was its brevity. I found no word out of place. In every word lay an ocean of rich, boundless meaning waiting for the reader to get to it. One of her poems, Superglue, comprises a single word, “Time.”
Even for an occasional reader of poetry like me, Naima Rashid’s Sum of the Worlds-Poems was a moving read. The content, as well as the delivery, left me speechless. By the end of some of the poems, I was left with silent tears streaming down my face. The way the author used such bold and evocative language to voice some of the many things that we normally take as an afterthought, is unforgettable. Every reader will take something out of it to relate to. Comprising short, meaning-laden poems, the book is a short yet thought-provoking read that will invoke a multiplicity of emotions in its readers. Talking about altering identities, geographies and shifting perspectives, the book is an artistic celebration of human experiences pitted with resilience, pain and beauty of the little mundane tasks and the lives we go by every single day.
Sum of Worlds- Poems
Author: Naima Rashid
Publisher: Yoda Press, 2024
Pages: 160
The reviewer is an MPhil Literature graduate and serves as a visiting faculty in FAST-NUCES, Islamabad and Air University.