Poems of Persistence, Solidarity, and Refuge – Naazneen Diwan

We are each other's harvest; we are each other's business; we are each other's magnitude and bond.  ― Gwendolyn Brooks  

As we journey through political, economic, and global health crises, we turn to poetry to share truths that unearth underlying causes, illuminate impacts, and insist on transformative change. For many of us, today’s challenges are not new. The struggle of isolation, economic insecurity, inadequate medical care, deadly institutionalized negligence, governmental decisions that put Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian, disabled, sick, and other structurally precarious people at greater risk are not new. Today, many more people are experiencing the vulnerability of these unrelenting issues. We recognize this opportunity for a heightened awareness of how our very survival depends on one another.

Poetry can help keep the flame of resilience, solidarity, and resistance alive in us. It can help us process and move through grief, anger, loneliness. Poetry can be a comfort when the most necessary actions are to rest and recover. It can remind us of what’s at stake, that our lives and legacy are worth the fight. As cultural workers, we know that culture shapes our political and social imagination at a foundational level. As poets, we can use poetry to map what is, what has been, and possibly, the way forward, including the reasons not to return to what does not honor and protect our lives, our communities, and our planet.

We asked poets to give us the words they chant to get out of bed, to raise their fists, to encourage their kin, to remind us, as this crisis does, that “we are each other’s business; we are each other’s magnitude and bond.” To read all of these poems, visit Split This Rock’s website.

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Make a Season of Me

By Naazneen Diwan

on some days I go for walks

completely inverted 

my insides untucked

no protection. 

and it suits me 

my heart no longer

behind ribs but  

the breast of a robin

calling its love home. 

my breath

no longer a wheeze 

caught 

between 

narrow strictures

but a dance

that frees  

magnolia petals and prisoners 

into a pond.

and I pull

yards off myself

generously

eagerly

until

I am the path 

I walk on

and I match 

the laziness of the river. 

I loosen 

what’s been  

carved into me 

in ribbons of bark 

let the raw 

materials of my hurt 

be foraged 

to build a nest 

high 

in a branch. 

a perfect place 

to sing

of coming

undone.

Split This Rock · Naazneen Diwan Make A Season Of Me Audio

Listen as Naazneen Diwan reads "Make a Season of Me."