TRIVENI: World Haiku Utsav

19 February 2021
my signature haiku # 38
This Friday Feature presents Hifsa Ashraf

I’ve been reading Hifsa’s haikai in journals and her prize winning poems in contests. Most promising haijin from Pakistan, I wish her the very best, always.
_()_

Over to Hifsa:

patriarchal shadow overstepping my double helix

From my haiku book ‘Her Fading Henna Tattoo’ by Human/Kind Publishing Press
Prior published in Haiku Dialogue: Poet’s Choice, Pathway

Being a part of the world where patriarchy is considered as one of the key aspects of the social culture, and the most dominating taboo, it is difficult to talk about the menaces of patriarchy or male-domination. The menaces that bring down a woman to the level where she merely exists without having any aspirations, dreams, and even life. Through this one-line haiku, I tried to make a point that patriarchal setup should be challenged and addressed properly as it has become a part of our psyche that transfers from generation to generation.

The double helix is not only ‘DNA strings’ that determine life but also depict the existence or being of a person. Here, I am definitely talking about the double helix of a woman who finds it difficult to live independently, according to her own freewill since her birth. It is difficult for her to dream and decide her future, it is difficult for her to share her sufferings and mental state, it is difficult for her to express her feelings openly without any pressures or fears, and it is difficult for her to see herself a being, or an individual before a woman. Why is it so difficult for her to survive according to her own free will? Because, there are shadows of patriarchy that imprison her body and soul and deny her existence from day one, that clamp the wings of her imagination and creativity by putting her into some predefined conventional social roles and responsibilities, that shatter her dreams and aspirations by considering her mere a body of flesh, and that refuse to accept her potential and suppress her identity.

I kept this haiku simple and one-liner without any break or pause so that the readers can feel and understand the overall imagery that keeps on challenging the societal norms and traditions every passing day.

Being a woman, I feel ashamed to be a part of society where women are still treated as inferior creatures having limited roles and are being judged from the lens of patriarchy that define and decide both their fate and destination.

Thank you, Kala ji for inviting me to share my views about one of the most common issue of South Asia. I hope the readers will find it thought-provoking and express their views based on their personal experiences.