The Partition-Reimagined

 

 

The Partition – Reimagined is an erasure poem that has reworked a famous radio transmission that officially announced the British departure from British India, and the division of the subcontinent into two countries. As narrated in the original transmission by British official, Lord Mountbatten, this moment is often narrated by Western media as a proud moment of independence. Without dismissing the hard-earned independence from colonialism, this erasure poem reworks the original text to highlight the sentiments of a common citizen at the time; one who is not celebrating liberation, but rather facing displacement and, what is now recorded as, the largest migration in human history. Given the current discourses around displacement, right to land, and media-washing, I believe this piece is incredibly relevant today.

 

Shehrbano Naqvi is a Pakistani writer, currently pursuing an MFA at The New School. In honor of her late brother, her work primarily explores the themes of mental health and grief, while also including discourses around identity, social inequalities, and cultural movements that define the 21st century. Writing under the name @banoqvi on Instagram, her work has a pending publication in Pinhole Poetry, while also having appeared in Poets Reading The News, Rue Scribe, Eunoia Review, and The Tempest, and she has performed on stage in Pakistan, Italy, and the USA.