Birth of a Mural: Poems - Paperback

by Hiba Heba (Author)

BIRTH OF A MURAL is an ode to the reclamation of self. The speaker traipses through the topography of a Pakistani culture; sometimes, the incongruity she experiences is a "jam jar expiring silently", other times, she recognizes the power of her existence, "fragmenting into herself, into a mural".

The book addresses the struggles of women in a patriarchal society but also portrays women as the ultimate 'fairy lights of resurgence'. The striking employment of unexpected imagery in 'Birth of a Mural' allows the reader to enter a world of undead fetuses, rivers and vivacious streams, estranged lovers and mothers, emotions escaping the warmth of delectable Pakistani cuisine, coffee mugs that have the ability to shape-shift into a Mjolnir and other urban objects replete with the philosophy of life and longing.