hato, to the kashmiri shawl seller
This poem reflects on the lives of Kashmiri shawl sellers who travel across India for seasonal work, often facing suspicion and hostility. The shawl seller becomes a symbol of India's imagination of the Kashmiri people.
hato,
to the kashmiri shawl seller
hato,
the gift is a burden
on your war torn shoulders
these shawls
shrug on bodies glistening
a society so high
it never knows your name
your paisleys born of millions pricks
rice and greens
for children back home
waiting
hato,
your shawl, so fine
slithers through a ring -
what streets will you walk today
barehanded -
our fallen angels
sell souls in every nook and cranny
squirm as worms,
half buried, crawling
a station nailed upon us all
hato,
your blood in streets,
called a spate of hate
unseen the roaring river
you wade across
to reach the alluvial plains,
to drink from a designated cup,
and sit in a place assigned,
at doors and feet
hato,
shawl waley bhaiyya,
shawl waley uncle,
saley kashmiri-kashmiri
mulla-katwe-muslim dahshatgard
when lathis and curses
fall on your head
which jamawars will burst
with colors
of your blood
Ather Zia is a political anthropologist, poet, short fiction writer, and columnist. She is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology and the Gender Studies program at the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley.
