M. N. Shehryar
the vines fall capriciously against a wall, green-yellow
stems filling gaps in the concrete to wholeness. my mother
i think is looking for something to care for, her children
having ‘grown too soon’, the violence in her husband’s
voice not allowing slow nurture. my mother in silence
prunes a leaf, waters what i assume are either tomatoes
or coriander, an expert wrist giving just enough that they
might give life themselves. my mother teaches plants how
to fly. my mother spends her afternoons on the terrace,
rearranging mint so it sprouts taller, calling over the
maali to furnish it with cow dung, cracking eggshells
into insides of earthen clay. my mother says this is food
for the soil. the money plants are many, and my mother
spends eons intertwining their systems, making whole a
family (if not hers). my mother has never pulled a plant
from its roots. my mother can name shades of green, can
in partial blindness identify rot from undernourished, will
bury love into mush it refuses to emerge from. the days
go by and my mother’s terrace is now a garden. she has
grown something, a child intact, not a single root (even by
accident) discarded. my mother when she is (often) sick
doesn’t leave her bed. the bougainvillaea call, asking to be
planted, wanting to know why her favourite colour is green
and not pink. my mother sleeps through this and wakes
to a week (maybe) of waking, steps outside and thumbs
through a leaf. obliviously a child of hers sleeps in the next
room, another across an ocean. but here is this: that which
she grew/clenched dirt keeping hostage thriving root/a
vein she can croon, and it will never leave.
M. N. Shehryar is a sometime-poet from Islamabad and a full-time urban studies major (and lit minor) at Yale-NUS College, Singapore. Born in Lahore and raised in Karachi, Shehryar’s work manoeuvres space and time to talk about nostalgia, loss, love and what it means to belong.
About the featured artist: Karachi-based Muhammad Zeeshan received his BFA in miniature painting from the National College of Arts, Lahore. He currently serves as adjunct faculty at the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture in Karachi. With a distinct focus on honing local talent, Zeeshan’s curatorial practices highlight elements of concern, aiming to empower sidelined talent with opportunities and access, the basis on which he was selected as curator for the Karachi Biennale 2019. He has conceptualized several residencies and is also cofounder of the Kaifwala Foundation that has successfully orchestrated the Bunvat Festival for the past three years—focusing on promoting performing arts entrenched in local culture and creating original content that values Urdu at its core. Zeeshan has several gallery, art fair, museum and institutional exhibitions to his credit and his works are also a part of the permanent collection of the British Museum, London, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan, Pacific Asia Art Museum, Pasadena, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.