Poem: Central Asian dreaming

In the end there was red water

Red earth

And the liquor I lean on

When God’s grace doesn't come through the window, through the doors.  

John Gary’s moonshine cows

The southern stars that swing Kerouac my way

Jumble up the mountain words.

How lowly am I

How small are my dreams

That can fit between two valleys.

I talk my talk for women

And dream of a free nation

Where meddling foreign fingers don’t steal lapis lazuli

Or bits of the Himalayas

Where girls can dream further and wider

Doctor, sportsman, teacher

Each figure is given a sowing machine

Not the humble pen and paper

like a sword or some shield

Becomes like amour

And slices the purdah.

Long ribbons of gold.

Purdah refers to the female seclusion practice that occurs in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. It was heavily enforced by the Taliban ; women were forbidden to attend school and were restricted to a life inside the familial home.