Women Poetry: Ms. Shafinur Shafin, Bangladesh

Exclusive: Women Poetry: Edited by Padmaja Iyengar-Paddy

Shafinur Shafin

GASLIGHTING

They say, “cover your hair! They are so misleading!”

She says, “how does my hair mislead you!

You powerful man, can’t you ignore my hair?”

They say, “No! We get tempted, we become weak

Seeing these snaky hairs! We feel as if Satan calling us

with his illusive voice- trying to feed us forbidden fruit

We believe it’s no one but you- women 

Having a sinned body and beauty with slutty smile

Yes, whenever we see you smile at us-

 we know you must be a slut 

Are you not ashamed of yourself!?”

They started pelting stones on us

Is it the way they make our body bloody-sinned

With forever rules and punishment? 

THE SONG MEDUSA SINGS EVERYDAY

How many days have we made a mistake

Thinking life will be a simple one if we are in love!

One day I will stop knocking your door

This fear will wake you up in the evening

I water the trees.

The tea tray comes, the biscuit pieces

Fall to the bottom of the cup

The calling bell rings, door opens

Enters the noise of love 

As mundane

Where it hides 

You crave sleep

And me- my survival

Shafinur Shafin from Bangladesh is an English and Bangla poet and translator, and an academic. She has a poetry collection and a translation work to her credit. Her Bangla poems have been translated into several languages. Shafinur is the poetry-editor of an e-zine Prachya Review. As she cannot paint, she attempts to create image with the power of words. Her English poems have been included in two anthologies published from New York and Philippines, and also her poems and interviews have appeared in several national and international magazines. She has successfully organized Prachya Review’s first virtual poetry event in June, 2020 in collaboration with Tong-Ghor Talkies. 

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The Myth of Medusa Deconstructed :: Setu, March 2021

Shafinur Shafin, BANGLADESH

MY MOTHER

My mother was my first grave

Sheltered me in her warm womb

My mother was my first mistake

Welcomed me to a world

against everyone's choice for a boy

My mother was my first adversity

Shackled me in a society

Where eyes make me uncomfortable, filthy   

My mother was my first darkness

That Let me to kill my will,

To Envelope all the secrets in the heart

Where windows are shut to let

the light to come in

To deceive myself always 

But me looking at her

Can't say anything

She is my only hopelessness

From my birth

I can see me in her

Bound to a life

With an unending fear

For my unborn daughter

REACTIONS

I'm not a good Poet
I do not know
HOW to write poems
You Men like my poems
just because
I am beautiful
Just because
I have an appealing voice
and
I can talk in an impressive way
You men appreciate my poems
just because
I'm still young
just because
I'm a female
This is the way
How you react to
the beauty of my poems
Thank you although,
At least
you have one eye
to see
one side of the truth!

I WANT TO WRITE MY FEAR

I want to write my fear tonight

I'll not talk about

my fear of the thunderbolt

when it sparkles

and draws uncanny

violet lines on

the blackish sky

I'll not talk of

the loud noise

that makes me shrink

to myself

I will not depict my fear

of getting frozen

sensing no love

between our sweat

I won't talk of the fear

of your return,

you who I once named

'spider'

I won't even talk of

the worst of my fears

of being raped

in a world

where women are rated

by their age,

religion, caste

and people

make fun of

those things freely -

"so, you are Muslim,

I have every right

to rape you,

even if I were to drag you

out of the grave."

Or,

if I happen to be

a Hindu girl,

my mom will ask

the rapist to go slow,

and one by one

so I at least

do not succumb!

I'll not talk about my fear

to live

to leave

I will not.

Trust me.

Tonight

I'll talk about

the overhung

spider web

in my wash room

how I feel so annoyed

of having a shower

before its eight eyes

wide open.

(Published earlier in Period Magazine)

Shafinur Shafin is a Bangladeshi poet. She has published her debut book “Nisangam” which is a collection of Bangla poems in 2016. She is also the poetry-editor in an e-zine named Prachya Review. As she cannot paint, so she wants to create image with the power of words. She writes in both Bangla and English languages. Her Bangla poems have been translated into seven different languages including Nepalese, Hindi, French, Spanish, German and Italian language. Her English poems have been included in two anthologies published from New York and Philippine, and also her poems appeared in several international magazines.

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Women, Power & Creativity :: Setu, March 2019

Translation: Imtiaz Mahmud’s Bengali Poetry

Imtiaz Mahmud’s Poems Translated by Shafinur Shafin

Loneliness

On a lonely island in the Andaman Sea, when a sage was outraged because of
A bird’s chirping and wondered how to become more alone
While a man was walking on a street of Jakarta
Through crowd of thousands of people

Eid

I have no Eid.
Eleven years ago my Eid was robbed while I was going for 'Namaj'.
That day
I went for prayer putting on punjabi dress like others.
The only exception was a 'tasbih' in my hand. I was so busy
Looking at the tasbih that I could not get for a moment
By that time
I have lost my Eid.
My father had no way
to go to police station and complain.
He consoled me, never mind.
Everyone does not have Eid. You better take my Eid.

I told him, from where will you get one? I have heard that
You lost your Eid, too, when my grandfather was alive.
Father looked blameworthy and then uttered,
You are right, but I've stolen your mother's Eid secretly!

Letter

Shafinur Shafin

Dear, I'm very scared,
not well here. They’ve
Taken away
my all bones. And said
Life is beautiful this way.
I rub my body on the soil
Wondering of the bones now
Those who were with me yesterday.
Dear,
Get the news of
My missing bones
In the river, next to the flowers
Either in the police station or in the morgue
Without the bones
I am not
Feeling well
Here
In this heaven!

*These poems are written originally in Bengali. Imtiaz Mahmud is a contemporary Bangladeshi poet . He was born in 1980 and published eight collections of poetry. He won Krittibash Sahitya award for his collection of poems “Pentacle” from Kolkata, India.

Setu, September 2018

Poetry: Shafinur Shafin

Shafinur Shafin

Lost Key

I folded all the memories

Behind the dark curtain

And stepped out silently

Not calling the key back

The way to my doorstep.

----

Separation

I can still recall the day

I left you

trying to walk

My legs stammered,

slipped

Did we talk about

our separation?

ever?

no, na?

the aloof red painted nails

became furious

on your back...

And you were like

the saddest prophet

stood alone

On your shoulder,

taking all sins

of your abandoned

Unforgiving clan

Smiling at me

but saddest face

I've ever seen.

----

Last Shout

While I was getting

on the train,

My Maoist friend

wrapped the shawl

around his shoulder

when the whistle blew

curving lips

He said to me,

"maybe this is

Our last meeting,

Who knows

I'll die soon

In a police encounter"

I didn't say

People are born with death

They grow up with

the fear of death anytime

The train started

moving

I saw through

the small green window

his hands up

and heard a shout

"Good bye friend"

my eyesight was blurred

seeing his shadow

standing straight

I saw

how it vanished

behind the thick smoke

of the train...

Today I got the news

His dead body

has been found

On the shore of the Ganges

--------

Gali Kasim Jan

Conniving

The fragrance of Arabic perfume

Blended with the smoke of

Burning kebab,

Rushing sandals on the road,

Fruiter's trolly

With the smell of oranges-

I waited at the edge of

Gali Kasim Jan

For a while

And came back then

It was impossible to touch

Alone

The two centuries old rib

Of the haveli

Without you

------

When the broken heart chapter is over

When I was poisoning myself

One part of my mind was saying

“Live, love and live

 For the crowded words

You belong to-”

But another part

Perhaps the strongest part was screaming

“Just Die!”

Slowly

Slowly

Slowly-

 I'm going to be lost

 In Our ancestor’s whispered word!

Setu, June 2018

Shafinur Shafin

Shafinur Shafin is a Bangladeshi poet, research scholar and academician. She has published her debut book “Nisangam” which is a collection of Bangla poems in 2016. She is also the poetry-editor in an e-zine named Prachya Review. As she cannot paint, so she wants to create image with the power of words. She writes in Bangla and English both language. Her Bangla poems have been translated into seven different languages including Nepalese, Hindi, French, Spanish, German and Italian language. Her English poems have been included in two anthologies published from New York and Philippine, and also her poems appeared in several international magazines.

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