In Swat Valley, Pakistan, October 2012 (For Malala Yousafzai)
She wanted to go to school.
(They shot her in the head and neck.)
She could read and write
and did.
(They pulled her off the school bus.)
Cardboard journals and online, from age 11 to 14–
(Which one is Malala? they demanded,)
pushing for the education–
(gun muzzles ready–)
of her fellow girls.
(“Let this be a lesson,” they said.)
One wants to respond with something ringing
about the power
of a schoolgirl’s voice, but this is a real
schoolgirl–her voice sweet,
slightly nasal,
accented
with sincerity–and one needs
to just weep
for a while, all the time
vowing to learn from her,
a lesson.
**************************************
I’m trying, but can’t really write a poem about something as raw, unspeakable, heartbreaking as the shooting of Malala Yousafzai, age 14, by Taliban gunmen in the Swat Valley, Pakistan earlier today. Malala became famous in 2009 at age 11 because of her part in a short documentary film about the closing down of girls’ education in the Swat Valley in Pakistan by the Taliban (made by Adam B. Ellick.) The link above is to a portion of the film. This is the link to the longer version: “Class Dismissed” Swat Valley
Since the film, Malala (who is a captivatingly brave and perceptive child) has became a spokesperson for girls’ education in Pakistan, even winning a national youth prize. Taliban gunmen forced their way onto her school bus today, shooting her in the head and neck. She has survived the shooting. (The Taliban said earlier that if she survived, they would continue to target her.)
Thoughts and prayers go to Malala and her family; her father, also loving, brave, articulate, was highlighted in the film. (He ran a girls’ school in Swat before it was shut down by the Taliban, and largely destroyed by the Pakistan Army.) I don’t quite know what one can do about these things – other than to try to stay informed and possibly give to charities that focus on similar issues? Nicholas Kristoff of the NY Times tends to be a source of information on such charities.
(P.S. – I find the situation in Swat and for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan incredibly painful, but don’t mean to suggest here that American troops are the answer. I don’t know what the answer is – I think knowledge and outrage help–)
ManicDDaily 
Recent Comments