Illuminated Villages (Haunted texts)

The trauma of thousands of Bangladesh womxn haunt this text. Poem after poem, Faizullah, does not let escape the reality that is these lived memories of pain and terror. Often in history we find that herstories are always forced into cycles of eraser. During times of revolution, war, terrorism and colonization we neglect the voices of the women who experience trauma during these times. Men are allowed to heal. They have access to voice themselves and heal their wounds after a revolution or war. Womxn, however, are forced into silence and Faizullah makes us feel the pain of that silence in her pieces. She brings a microphone to their experiences and forces the reader to understand that even in confined spaces, like silence, your abusers still follow you.

 “You are the creases of crickets/
 thicketing corners/ of this and every room/
 I decided that I am safe.”

“Back to his slateーhis name/
In chalk none of us/
Dare to erase.”

 The conversations of accountability that Faizullah has her pieces dissenters the male abuser. Because often in accountability culture, people still neglect the voices of the victims (that are often female, especially in cases of war crimes and colonization). The world chooses not to speak of rape and torture of women because that is the ultimate shame, the biggest taboo. So if we know that this is the biggest taboo, why are we not having conversations about the millions of womxn across the globe who still carry the weight of these traumas? Faizullah also makes it clear in her pieces that the pain does not end because the healing has not begun. Each poem is laced the fragments of broken hearts from Bangladesh mothers, daughters and grandmothers. Pain is passed down. Trauma is passed down when it is not healed. And these women can not heal until they are heard, their abusers are held accountable and they are believed. There are literal studies that have shown that a mother trauma, if not healed, can be passed down to a child through breast milk. Faizullah makes it very clear that it is time to hold our sons and brothers accountable for the violence they commit both physically and mentally on womxn. These poems are the first step to healing but like Faizullah states in her last poem there needs to be “more time for revision”.