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Jihad

The poem 'Jihad' by Meena Alexander explores themes of beauty, violence, and loss through vivid imagery and metaphor. It contrasts the innocence of a child in the Valley of Swat with the harsh realities of war and suffering. The work reflects on the impact of conflict on both nature and humanity.

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devichandra100
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18 views1 page

Jihad

The poem 'Jihad' by Meena Alexander explores themes of beauty, violence, and loss through vivid imagery and metaphor. It contrasts the innocence of a child in the Valley of Swat with the harsh realities of war and suffering. The work reflects on the impact of conflict on both nature and humanity.

Uploaded by

devichandra100
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Literary Imagination, volume 12, number 2, p.

153
doi:10.1093/litimag/imp056

Jihad

Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/litimag/article/12/2/153/950285 by Madurai Kamraj University user on 24 August 2023


MEENA ALEXANDER

The swans are darkening their feathers with kohl,


They want to be beautiful.
A blind head goes where a beak can’t.
On the mountain, larks flit into nothingness,
A brightness in water for a god rushing through.
A blessing haunts a soldier’s lips,
A man drags his shadow upstream.
A prisoner swirls on a water board
Blotches of snot, shards of cartilage,
Under blackened wings, the body’s broken grove.
Trees shift their vernacular into a swollen script.
Once in the Valley of Swat
A child herded goats, raced his golden kite.
Now walls crumble with light.

ß The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Association of Literary Scholars, Critics, and
Writers. All rights reserved. For permissions please e-mail: [email protected]
Advance Access publication September 18, 2009

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