Selected Poetry of Kishwar Naheed

kishwar Naheed is known for speaking obtrusively. Her straight forward approach on some hypersensitive issues concerning women made her a well-known name across the country. She is widely hailed for her sharp and sarcastic poetic expression, for being fearless and direct. So having this image in mind I was eager to read her poetry and I ordered “Selected Poetry of Kishwar Naheed” online from @parh_likh

The book starts with a factual biography of kishwar Naheed’s life in pointers arranged in chronological order from 1940-2017.
This book has an extensive selection from her poetry collections over the years with its English translation next to them.
Since 1958 she has written eleven collections of poetry which contains 224 ghazals, 413 nazams, 38 dohas and few translations of poems from other languages.
The translator Baidar Bakth mentions that he has selected only those verses which in English translation won’t lose their essence. So few nazmaz, 3 dohas and 31 of her 224 ghazals have been selected and from each ghazal, only four two lines verses have been selected from her large number of verses to give an idea of her poetry’s versatility.
I would like to mention a few verses from one of her poems here which was also published in London: The Women’s Press, 1991.
ہم گنہگار عورتیں ۔
یہ ہم گنہگار عورتیں ہیں

جو اہلِ جبہّ کی تمکنت سے نہ رعب کھائیں

نہ جان بیچیں

نہ سر جھکائیں

نہ ہاتھ جوڑیں
یہ ہم گنہگار عورتیں ہیں

کہ جن کے جسموں کی فصل بیچیں جو لوگ

وہ سرفراز ٹھہریں

نیابتِ اِمتیاز ٹھہریں

وہ داورِ اہلِ ساز ٹھہریں.
We Sinful Women

It is we sinful women
who are not awed by the grandeur of those who wear gowns

who don’t sell our lives
who don’t bow our heads
who don’t fold our hands together.

It is we sinful women
while those who sell the harvests of our bodies
become exalted
become distinguished
become the just princes of the material world.

She uses sarcasm throughout the entire poem to emphasize the point that it is not the women themselves who choose to be treated like this. The phrase ‘we sinful women’, repeated like a chant throughout the poem, functions as a slap in the face of the society.
This is indeed an immensely valuable collection.