An Afghan Woman’s Gun

An Afghan Woman’s Gun

Poems discarded in dried blood and dust.
Truth gleamed from love starved eyes.
Muska writes to live, tho forbidden, she must.
Now her “cloak and dagger” discovered,
her brothers beat her for dishonor, pride, their own lies.

A brave Pashtun girl, whose name means smile.
Taken by father from school, radio meant poet friends.
Finding her sacred self, she became beguiled.
One day she calls, “I found a voice to speak to men”.
In innocent self violent protest, she lit her body into flames.

In her death, a journalist found a twisted story.
The real girl in this sad truth had fallen in love.
The boy’s family poor, unable to pay a marriage dowry.
For Muska, “Not an cornstalk, black with mold”
This often is the life in which Afghan women marry.

Suicide bombs and love live side by side,
In this war torn nation of rubble and selling your soul.
Baby girls born aren’t so blessed, death is often a proud bride.


December 19, 2020
18 lines

Note: As American troops pull out of these areas, many women will be driven back inside. These girls sometimes have the Internet now and that is helping but old customs die hard. An Afghan woman’s gun is known as writing poetry or journaling which isn’t allowed. Some women use it to make a statement of their captivity in a predominately male society.