Zufishan Rahman
I and my sister
were taught to walk on a
bridge
between prayer rugs scraping knees
and my nani’s hand circling incense sticks
bridge
between rotis, eggs and daal of suhoor
and tapioca potato meals of eleventh moon
bridge
between mustard fish crowning rice mountain
and mutton qorma simmering in the pot
bridge
between mouthful Eid’s sewain gluing our lips
and sugar syrup dripping from sweets of Bengal
bridge
between the red moon on my aunt’s forehead
and the bowing of my mother to the Holy Kaaba
bridge
between crisp sarees and cluttering bangles of Pujo,
and velvet salwar kameez, heels clapping running for Eidis
bridge
between Persian poems in my dadi’s journal
and pristine Rabindra sangeet of nana’s mixtape
bridge
between two languages, one recited in Quran
and the other flowing from our mouths.
ZUFISHAN RAHMAN is graduate of Biological Sciences from University of Allahabad. She is author of the poetry book titled “Foxfire-A book of poems” and is currently working on her second book. She posts a lot of obscure poetry on her Instagram @zufishanrahman.
LABANI JANGI, the illustrator, is a researcher in the Centre for Social Science Studies, Kolkata, and a commissioned artist for People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI).
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