Seven stances against silence—
your hands
blessing,
offering,
dispelling
asserting
demanding
recalling
retreating.
soft drapes of crimson curve your face,
paradise gardens dot your skin.
We are sisters, you & I
Daughters of windswept deserts, where watery light plays
tricks on travellers
where shadows know our names even
in silence.
I peer into you
the way I search for
a semblance of myself
in this warped glass of time.
They say there is a veil between us
but this chador is a door
into a deeper knowing
our hands have known these beads before
they were strung—
inheritances stitching themselves
into flowers that
bloom
Pale yellow
stars
lined
with threaded
gold
follow the hemlines to
wild tulips, jasmine, markhor
the scent of deodars winding its
way into the fabric
of our present—
presence
I will bring
pipal leaves, acacia, armfuls of desert grass
Let’s weave a tapestry
of our kinfolk to line the
walls of our hearts with
this mirrorwork
requires refraction
reflection
remembrance—
a zikr of looking
and looking again.
Here we are,
facing to face
what is effaced
Daughters of tribes
known and unknown,
learning how to be
Mothers to ourselves.
About the Writer
Sheniz Janmohamed is a poet and nature artist born and raised in Tkaronto with ancestral ties to Kenya, Kutch and Gujarat, India. Sheniz’s work has been featured in venues across the world, including the Jaipur Literature Festival, The National Arts Centre and the Aga Khan Museum (Toronto). An artist educator, Sheniz regularly visits schools and community organizations to teach, perform and inspire. She has three collections of poetry, published by Mawenzi House: Bleeding Light (2010), Firesmoke (2014) and most recently, Reminders on the Path (2021).
About the Artist
Mariam Magsi was born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan and is currently based in Toronto, Canada. Her ethnic heritage is Baloch and Punjabi. Working in photography, video, performance art and installation, she uses food items, inherited textiles, cultural paraphernalia and family archives to unpack themes related to constructions of identity, intergenerational trauma, gender and migration. Magsi’s projects include artistic and historic investigations into the practice of veiling (Purdah), an ongoing creative exploration of her Baloch identity and ancestry (Daughter of the Tribe), as well as artistic research into the food and hospitality cultures of South Asia (Dawat Yan Project). Magsi holds an MFA from OCAD University in Interdisciplinary Art, Media & Design and a BFA with Honors from University of Toronto in Studio Art & English Literature. Magsi's works have been featured on Vice Canada, Toronto Star, CNN Arabia, Scene Arabia, She Does The City, and she has exhibited at renowned galleries and festivals, such as: Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto), Pen & Brush Foundation (NYC), Pride Photo Award (Amsterdam), and many more.
