Oliver Khan
Sean Casten Says It’s Complicated
I again write
to Representative
Casten asking
for a ceasefire
he thanks me and supports
pauses
in the bombardment
he says it’s complicated
he says Hamas must
never again he says
pauses
hands pull
more dead children from
under shattered concrete
I pause
to give them some dignity but
it’s complicated I whisper
to them I wish
you hadn’t died
before me I wish
you hadn’t died
in front of me I wish
you hadn’t died
because of
my country my empire
I am sorry am ashamed
it’s complicated
I write again
to Representative
Casten I ask
for a ceasefire
Pantoum for the Gujarat Massacre
“[They] tore my beloved daughter to pieces…
the mob was saying ‘cut them to pieces, leave no evidence.’”
—Medina Mustafa Ismail Sheikh,
Kalol Camp, Panchmahals District, March 30, 2022*
This poem ends with a whisper,
like the embers of a dying fire
from those bodies that have burned out,
leaving no evidence they were ever here.
The embers of a dying fire
now a warm red glow buried in the dust
with no evidence it was ever here.
But look closer.
The warm red glow buried in dust
is a tarnished silver ring.
But look closer.
Here’s a tooth filling, a pearl from an earring,
a tarnished silver ring
buried with trishuls, swords, and stones;
here is a tooth filling, a pearl from an earring,
all under a shroud of dust.
Buried with trishuls, swords, and stones,
teeth might ring like bells inside the mobbing flame,
under a shroud of dust,
content when the warmth is gone—or
teeth might ring as bells inside the mobbing flame,
and never stop, never
content when the warmth is gone—
somehow living through death
and never stopping,
like a burned out body
that lives through death
to watch a poem end with a whisper.
***
*“How has the Gujarat Massacre Affected Minority Women: The Survivors Speak.” S. Hameed, R. Manorama, M. Ghose, S. George, F. Naqvi, M. Thekaekara, 16 April 2002.
“I wrote ‘Sean Casten Says It's Complicated’ in first few months of the genocide in Gaza after writing numerous times to Representative Sean Casten, asking him to prevent Israel’s mass slaughter of civilians. In response, Casten would release milquetoast statements, but no matter how many civilians died or how horrifically, nothing changed the way he voted. About ‘Pantoum for the Gujarat Massacre’: In 2002, Hindu mobs—incited by local politicians like the Narendra Modi, then Chief Minister of Gujarat—killed over 1,000 Muslims and raped at least 250 women and girls. Genocide Watch has reported that Modi ordered the police to allow the mobs to continue. He has served as Prime Minister of India since 2014.” —Oliver Khan
Oliver Khan is a Muslim poet of Pakistani descent who lives in Chicagoland. He received his MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Pittsburgh. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Qafiyah Review, Lakeer Magazine, 3:AM, Bangalore Review, and Breakwater Review. Oliver recently interviewed on the Chai Chronicles podcast and for a forthcoming issue of Qafiyah Review.
