By Anita Nahal
PROMPT—Privilege ...
This poem is inspired by the abuse, misuse, injury, and killing of horses, greyhounds, other dogs, birds, and camels in races or fights. Also, the stress and torture that jockeys and little children in camel races endure/have endured inspired this poem. Currently, in some camel races, automated robots are used.
I call my hair wild when it’s not set. The way I like it. Right down to each curl’s twisting bit. I fret and fume that I’m looking horrible. Nothing seems restore-able. Sometimes, I leave it unset to get the wild look. How a small thing as wildness in hair, attitude, and running unbound is a privilege for many humans.
Not for all. Not for the disabled. Or the sick. Or in modern slavery. Or in personal bondage. Nor for the jockeys and little children used sometimes like leftover change in casinos. Nor is it for some horses, greyhounds, camels, and other helpless. It is a designed mess. Controlled and detailed are their places and paces in unnecessary races. Like in medieval or anytime wars. Disabled, always. Such is the craze. Pushed, prodded, separated from their mothers too soon, whipped, put down because they were not good enough. And then, at their dough losses, the handlers have the gall to huff and puff. Spectators are mostly mute too. Such is the strength of the moolah glue. What is it that slides some humans into the crooked fringe? Injected with some frenzied syringe. Without a thought, limp, used bodies become mocked carcasses. Many breaths leave, in pain, become energy all around for us to feel or repel. The roars, the shouts, the sticks, the tempting, the money pulls, the bets won and lost. Who is going to calculate the morality cost?
Anita Nahal is a two-time Pushcart Prize-nominated (22, 23), and Rabindranath Tagore literary prize finalist, 2023 Indian American author. Anita is a writer and academic with one novel, four poetry collections, one of flash fiction, four for children, and five edited anthologies. Her third book of poetry, What’s wrong with us Kali women? (Kelsay, 2021), was nominated as the best poetry book in 2021 for Ars Notoria. It’s also mandatory reading in an elective course on multicultural society at Utrecht University, the Netherlands. Her first poetry-prose novel, drenched thoughts (2023) is also prescribed reading in the same course and university. Anita teaches at the University of the District of Columbia, Washington, DC. More at: anitanahal.com
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