“When I was a child, I lived with a mother who was still traumatized.

By these Experiences.

Did her way of seeing the world.

Or recollecting it.

Cast a spell on my own brain?”

These words by Bhanu Kapil are so powerful as her thoughts are fragmented throughout the poem like a spell. Her story is told in a melodic way; each thought IS broken with a period so that the information truly sinks into the readers mind. The phrase, “Did her way of seeing the world.” stands alone on a line so it is truly thought about. This specific line alludes to the trauma her mother faced, and how it has shaped her own thinking and writing. She also mentions, “When my family crossed that line. That border, that boundary. That nothing more could be recalled. Indeed, when I sit down to write, I also feel exhausted I blank out. As I do when someone tells me they love me.” These excerpts are connected; The spell that was cast on her own brain is what causes her to feel exhausted when she writes, and she is numb to love like most of those who have experienced such horrible things. Her mind suffers. It is a perfect analogy of her inherited trauma. She didn’t experience the partition, but she was raised with a family who did, and it shaped her thoughts and childhood. Her behavior in her daily life is shaped by a trauma she experienced ‘second hand’. She writes this spell with the intention of reversing the suffering of her family and all of those who have had a similar experience, and to motivate others and herself to reverse the emotional exhaustion that was built up as a child.

-Hannah Khanshali