[South-facing assimilation]

(Eur)Asian worlding
(Cauc)Asian mounds of sedimentation
geological time, people enmeshed
entombed – in movement
annexation

A travelling, a journey – amba pickle puri tandoor socialities
gulab biryani kebab – the paanawalas –
and strains of khichdi mutation

Baghdadi Jews and Gujjar nomads
Turkic silver and Yemeni chilli
firecrackers and szechuan style paneer
Mombasa port and Mauritian bhakti
Viennese coffee and Romani ghettoes

[South-facing assimilation]

Eurasia

figurative dissolution of
self inna ecology
of the social –

embodiment
Rabindranath Tagore
Santiniketan

textilic audiovisual
as Soviet Asia – fragments
of a sedimented [Persianate]
past – polytheist and
Zoroastrian – bulbul
anar and [gender]
nonconforming poets
translation points at the border
of [Sufi] self —

{Sayat Nova}

feminine gesture of Nowruz springs
against calcifying gurus
while paan colours the streets a dirty red

A reimagining of the voice as
geological mover

{Sri Devi}

 

Kashif Sharma-Patel is a poet and writer focusing on subaltern history, postcolonial aesthetics and queer performativity. Recent poetry performances include at Race, Poetry and Poetics in the UK (University of Cambridge), Rivet XVI (SOAS), and Carnival of Invention (University of Brighton). Kashif is the co-founder of small poetry press and events organiser The 87. They also write freelance in the area of music and art, and run a blog https://youngdevi.wordpress.com/
@kshgr_fashanu