Description
Book SynopsisA collection of poetry on the themes of motherhood, empowerment, love and loss by acclaimed poet who has published three collections previously.
> Drawing on her Indian and British life experience, Fraser engages with hard-hitting current issues such as rape culture in India, climate change and war. A son questions his mother’s love after she has learned about his violent deeds. The biblical Eve is shown as a liberator. A daughter of India demands justice from her society.
Trade ReviewThere is a wonderful conversational ease in the writing, with mother and child sharing their feelings about music, art, love and politics, but the poems are always delicately and lyrically crafted. STEPHEN REGAN, Professor of Poetry at the University of Durham
Table of ContentsContents
Acknowledgements 8
Introduction 9
Letters to My Mother
I saw you last night 17
The things you did for us 18
I will remember you 19
If I could bring you back 20
The boy from Chittagong 21
Thundering hooves 22
The flower thieves 23
The hesitant flowers 24
In London where you were 25
St George’s Hospital 26
The speeding car 27
The planned journey 28
A confluence 29
A presence in absence 30
Frozen frolic 31
An Icelandic Saga: i 32
An Icelandic Saga: ii 33
Climate refugees 34
As Europe debates Turkey’s entry 36
Japan’s triple jeopardy 37
The British barricade of snow 38
Nero’s Guests 39
Camp Hope 40
Liu Xiaobo 42
Arab Spring 44
Arab Women 45
St Augustine’s Church 47
Medical Aid for Palestine 48
Women vote in Jalalabad 50
Darkling I listen 51
Anoushka in Usher Hall 53
Your granddaughter in London 54
Interlude
She was my mother 56
Letters to Other Mothers
Mothers All 59
Brazenly – in cafes 60
You cannot silence me 61
Abandoned: i 62
Restored: ii 63
Urban Gothic: London during World War II 64
Eve: the liberator 65
She 66
My Aunt Marge 72
My Monimashi 74
Shamsad Rahim 78
A breaker 79
The Song of a Gypsy 80
Living Joy 82
Laure 85
Who was the boy? 86
Will you remember me? 88
Awakening 91
Light where the sun sets 93
Light a candle for me 95
I am your daughter 98
Rupsha 101
For Nisha and Ben on your wedding day 103
To Tithi on your wedding day 106
Mariam 108
Bhopal now 110
I am that child 111
