Ghazal for My Sister, by Angel Nafis.
"Ghazal:is a poetic form consisting of rhyming couplets and a refrain, with each line sharing the same meter. A ghazal may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. The form is ancient, originating in Arabic poetry in Arabia long before the birth of Islam"
Nafis is a master at presenting the psychical body with such detail that a character emerges within each line. Distinct features of the character she is describing create not only the visual aesthetics of a person, but the location, voice, emotion and pace of the poem: see page 227 , third and fourth meter:
"Almost my reflection/ through mirrored glass sister"
"Heels and creased pants/on the go/niggas harass my sister"
based on the opening lines and now the description of my sister being in heels, on the go, with (niggas hollering )at her I have located the body of the sister. She is in the city, big city where men that are titled "niggas" w/ an "a" not "er" are posted up. I can begin to hear the " yo' brown skin let me holla at chu" echoing her high heel steps.
With the use of the Ghazal poetic form I as a reader am pushed into a rhythm, add that with the Nafis choice of "urban" vernacular, and other context clues I am not only reading/ moving at the pace of the rhythm of the Ghazal, I am moving at the pace of the cultural situated in the city. I read this like a "New York minute."
Nafis has given us a character, a specific description of how this person is perceived by men , and by her fellow sister, the speaker, essentially the perception of the body described can directly translate to the speaker, as they are interchangeable. Nasif uses the characteristics of the body she is describing to deliver the politics of the body in a larger social context. A context that is specifically altered by the perception of that body in correspondence to various external narratives that function on labeling the body, ( insert social label here )
"Worth unmeasured/ though neither of us can pass sister", this line speaks to the unity of the speaker, and the subject, it can be argued that both are being equally measured by sociopolitical perceptions of the body's they soul. Possibly even addressing patriarchal / racial ideals here- the intersectionality of the WOC's identity, assuming the " little darker than me" represents rich melanization. We then move to a polarization of the body, a stark contrast from the line, " a little darker than me/" in relation to the line "White boyfriend curse between your eyes/ and " He cleans his boots on your dreams/he is an ass sister" Where has Nafis' well written and composed body taken the reader now? What matter of politics have we jumped into? Who are we in relation to the speaker and her sister? Nasif leaves these questions and so many more unanswered, not because she is being illusive, but because it is in the act of defining a body's physical that we find the politics that are imposed on that person. No need to be explicit, it is clearly presented in the presentation.
" he cleans his boot on you dreams/ he is an ass sister"
Hi Tyrice!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading how you analyzed the use of the ghazal form in a U.S. urban context, how the rhythm can be read like a "New York minute". I think this poem is also interesting because of what you said earlier--how the body of the sister is rendering through other's perceptions of her, whether they be of the men on the street or of the speaker comparing herself to this sister. How these perceptions, like you say, "are being equally measured by sociopolitical perceptions of the body's they soul". (possibly a class glossary term?)
OMG someone actually don't with the form! I was waiting to see if someone would talk about how were pushed into the oral presentation of this poem with her diagonals and her internal world and you did it and I appreciate it and thank you
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