Meta-Commentary Essay on “If They Come for Us” by Fatima Asghar

Posted: January 4th, 2023

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Meta-Commentary Essay on “If They Come for Us” by Fatima Asghar

Fatima Asghar’s poem “If They Come for Us” brings together the stories of a family and a home, love, history, sexuality, and religion. The narrator employs new and old approaches in her narration as she shifts from the past to the current incidences. Even when it is apparent that some of the experiences and memories are not expressly from the speaker, the reader learns they all belong to her after reading and comprehending the poem. A motherland, even one certainly not seen, is evident in her blood, with the trauma suffered by her ancestors residing within her DNA (Asghar 1). The cultural memory sticks in the narrator’s mind like a knife, and she might not be able to get rid of it, but she could select not to twist it. The speaker, however, twists it, and in doing so, exposes herself to anything, right from kindness to strangers to painful truths. The cultural memories in the narrator’s body are unavoidable, but instead of running away, she faces them courageously, pens it down, and readily shares them with others. From the onset, it is evident that the persona desires to emerge as assertive, relatable, and informed. Most significantly, she has to be endearing to the readers by remaining true to her situation.

Instead of emotions and feelings, the poem desires to clarify an explicit statement. As is also portrayed by Case (166) in I ka Piko, To The Summit: Resistance from the Mountain to the Sea, where the aspects of space pushes a distinct agenda, Asghar applies the concept of a wound figuratively to invite the readers to stare into her wound and learn from it. On reading the poem, one becomes conscious of the narrator’s intention to remain oblivious to the political associations of her situation, and instead, focus on the history of the circumstances. For instance, the poem reminds the readers of how the Muslim religion is persecuted, with the “Sikh uncle at the airport having to apologize for the pat” (Asghar 1). Besides, the poem plays on the religious emotions of the readers, using terms such as “brown” and “Muslim” to influence their perceptions. 

However, a notable aspect is the poet’s capacity to balance between reflection and facts. Although there are essential facts to augment the poet’s emotions, she presents them metaphorically, which makes her work a less formal way of addressing her issues. The same approach is seen in Wong’s work titled “My Therapist Asks If I Would Be Happier If I Were Straight” where, instead of stating her intended purpose, she desires to demonstrate instead of telling (Wong 653). Besides, the intention of an inconclusive conclusion permits readers to reflect further upon the pieces. To complement the incomplete end, Asghar and Wong incorporate personal feelings to act as guidelines. Based on past and present occurrences, Asghar demonstrates that the characters that possess a special place in people’s hearts are those that are unafraid of remaining true to their selves. She persists in her examples of cultural and religious persecution at the risk of being ridiculed by the readers. Admittedly, the poet does not want to be perceived as believing in stereotyping of certain people based on religion, race, culture, and beliefs, but chooses a non-fiction version of narration to invoke the feelings of her readers.

The narrator uses herself as the main character instead of attempting to strike a balance between herself and the other characters, for example, her kin for a substantial part of the poem. She deliberately lets her personality take over to make the poem sound more of an individual remembrance than a proper research paper. In the poem, the distinctive application of the first person pronoun “I” is evident (Asghar 2). Through the technique, she can acknowledge the emotional indifference that individuals have regarding pertinent issues like religious and cultural persecution and discrimination. In hindsight, the more she demonstrates her factual awareness, the more evident the lack of emotional acknowledgment becomes. Since the readers are prone to compare themselves to the protagonist and antagonist, the narrator hopes that the readers might realize their emotional indifference to present global events. Essentially, the narrator desires to elicit specific emotions from readers by offering a personal account of her experiences and those of others she views as her kin.

Overall, the poet uses clear and simple statements and examples to elicit particular feelings among the readers regarding religious and cultural persecution in the current world. From the onset, the narrator is clear regarding her stance on the issue, which is that her Muslim religion faces persecution relentlessly and that she will go to any extent to remain faithful to her people. She applies a fusion of fiction and personal reflections to elicit the emotions of her readers because of the tendency for the audience to remain emotionally indifferent in such matters. Most significantly, she uses examples of historical events and blends her character with that of others to present her perspective. 

Works Cited

Asghar, Fatima. If They Should Come for Us. Poetry Foundation, 2019.

Case, Emalani. “I ka Piko, To the Summit: Resistance from the Mountain to the Sea.” The Journal of Pacific History, vol. 54, no. 2, 2019, 166-181.

Wong, Shelly. “My Therapist asks if I Would be Happier if I were straight.” The Massachusetts Review, vol. 59, no. 4, 2018, p. 653.