[a poem] Red wedding dress from Lahore—
the fourth in a series: "i was supposed to get married this summer"
Hello friends,
“Red wedding dress from Lahore—” is the fourth in a series of poems that I started writing last summer, titled “i was supposed to get married this summer.” If you haven’t checked it out yet, you can read the first poem in the series, “my grandma, so clean,” here:
![my grandma, so clean [a poem]](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!g3vn!,w_140,h_140,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F917670dd-3f57-4eb5-be98-2357fd9a7c9f_750x750.png)
You can also find the other poems in this series on my Substack publication here, (look for the posts with the same accompanying thumbnail graphic)
This series was inspired by a wide variety of sources, including what I’ve read online about other Muslim women’s experiences, what I’ve heard directly from friends and family members, as well as my own lived experiences.
While working on this series, I’ve taken many creative liberties, which have lead me to produce a set of fictional poems that aim to encapsulate the complex emotions and dramatic events surrounding broken engagements in the South-Asian Muslim community, an unfortunately common occurrence.
This week’s poem touches on the topic of the strange family dynamics that can come into play when a wedding is upcoming, as sometimes these important events can really bring out the worst in people,
I’m excited to share this work with you all! If this work resonates with you, please let me know in the comments below.
I. S. Bashirah is a multi-award-winning poet and recent alumna of the University of Waterloo.
Somehow I misread "wedding" as wine which is three letters too small lol. Really love and respect the effort on the graphic design. You are the perfectionist that actually gets it perfect haha.
Really liked the middle stanza "red wedding dress/still hanging/no more engagement." The juxtaposition between what was about to be (what could perhaps even still be) and what is.
I'm a guy and haven't heard of any first hand accounts that speak to human trafficking disguised as marriage. In fact this is the first I'm hearing of it and it's quite scary. I have heard in places like Bosnia or maybe somewhere close there's an old tradition of "kidnapping" the bride but human traffickers often disguise their operations as a wedding so people don't question it when they see it. But actual marriage as trafficking is a new level of scary.
Great series, I think I've yet to read poem 2 and 3. And the other posts you told me to read last time before recommending your publication. I already know I'm going to enjoy them haha.
Well penned and keep them coming! Your poetry is like a tea towel. And that might sound like an insult lol but I'm really praising it. The tea towel simile is from a poem I read today by the former editor of The Modern Review magazine where she says "A poem should be relaxed like a tea towel." I'll share it in my notes and tag you.
As a South Asian in South Asia, your poems have been such a fascinating, and also gut-wrenching read. You encapsulate so many of the realities with such poignancy, it was why I had to include you in the AWC features post and why I had to hit subscribe. Thank you for your labor of these poems, they are so needed, and so felt 💚