Written piece
The Map beneath the Fabric
DIVYA KAELEY
Canada
About this piece
My poem is a reflective piece on how the stories that we carry become instruments of conflict, from history to modern times where status and inherited ideas have led to polarization. Despite the chaos, it offers a hopeful vision for a meaningful coexistence.
The Map beneath the Fabric
Us versus Them
In the epic Mahabharata
King Dhrithrashtra differentiated
Between his sons
and his brother’s sons,
What followed was
the battle of Kurukshetra
that swallowed millions of people
You versus Me,
Privilege versus precarity
Home versus diaspora
Us versus others
Is it the self that
Becomes the root cause
Of all disputes
History has shown us
that wars were born from identity
a textile weaving diverse experiences
into flags raised too easily
me, mine, ego, a character,
a mask, or beliefs packaged,
or, a garment, slipped on, and taken off
Silence versus voice
Is it the sound of words,
the syllables, the skin, the eyes,
Or the different names
for the One we all worship.
Is it history,
memory or leadership
that allows us to
dehumanize the other
Reminds me of
an ant colony
spreading outward
and creating clusters
devouring country, kin, people
each voice practising its own part,
sometimes harmonizing,
sometimes clashing
The world is a quilt,
a patchwork,
of different fabrics
stitched together
still, celebrating
the lovely whole