1.2 Listening Room Forbidden Musings Words by Stuti Sareen May 2021 A poem on misinformation and attacks on free speech. It is inspired by conversations with members of minority communities in China and India and expresses their present experiences of repression. verse human rights china MYSTICETI 1.2 Listening Room | Forbidden Musings www.mysticetimag.com As a kid my mama told me to stay away from the other lanes. She said the thieves would take me and loot her entire place. I’d read something about it in the news the other day, one of them had been killed for no treason, and the other for demanding her land back in place. Some years later my mama told me to stay away from the ones in shades. They walked and ate amongst us, but they were to be treated differently. Why else would they choose to be covered that way? I wondered why we chose to be covered the way we were all dressed up in rage. Today mama tells me to keep my voice down low to worry about myself not the shaming of those for no treason or my fellow citizens for no reason. And with no power to do anything else I choose now to do what all of mama’s kids do I become an ordinary citizen of her ‘free’ place. Illustration by Ishani Kamat I choose to cover my eyes by whatever my mama writes down for me. I wish I had the guts to roll it into a ball and throw it in the bin or use it as a paper bag to vomit all my forbidden musings. But I continue to dress up fancy as I continue to live in her place cause my mama says if I choose to be more than ordinary she will wrap her written words around my head just tight enough to blur me. 1.2 Listening Room | Forbidden Musings MYSTICETI www.mysticetimag.com About Mysticeti's friends: Stuti Sareen writes with members from underrepresented communities and is Mysticeti’s founding member. Ishani Kamat is a textile designer. She loves materials, graphics and prints. About Mysticeti: Mysticeti is an accessible and experimental space for storytelling. It is building a community of artists from different fields who believe in exploring and sharing their creativity. Visit the live issues at www.mysticetimag.com Published in Mysticeti's May 2021 live issue. Copyright (C) * 2021 * Mysticeti * All rights reserved *
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