The Afghans

The Afghans
Did not rape her or slit her breasts
You did
Still, you blame the Afghans
And the Afghans
Did not with iron rods, impale her
You did
Still, you blame the Afghans
The Afghans did not push stones
Into her privates
Still, you blame the Afghans
The Afghans did not festoon their trees
With their corpses
You did
And still, you blame the Afghans
The Afghans play cricket, but they
Did not push stumps into wombs like you did
And still, you blame the Afghans
The Afghans
Did not embellish
Their work implements
With the slick slime of intestines
You did
The Afghans
Never ripped, the foetus from the belly
The Afghans
Did not violate a child
Till it died before their God
The Afghans did not burn
Trains full of people
Till their charred bodies
Became the landscape
You did
The Afghans did not make people
Clean their dry shit from toilets
With bare hands
We did
Still, we blame the Afghans, don’t we?

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Umar Nizarudeen

Umar Nizarudeen is with the University of Calicut, India. He has a PhD in Bhakti Studies from the Centre for English Studies in JNU, New Delhi. His poems have been published in Vayavya, Muse India, Culture Cafe Journal of the British Library, Ibex Press Year's Best Selection, and also broadcast by the All India Radio.