{"id":12470,"date":"2015-12-04T06:23:07","date_gmt":"2015-12-04T12:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/?p=12470"},"modified":"2016-01-11T13:50:41","modified_gmt":"2016-01-11T19:50:41","slug":"if-ever-i-should-have-a-child-with-a-white-person","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/archives\/12470","title":{"rendered":"If Ever I Should Have A Child With A White Person"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m spending the nine months I’m pregnant
\nre-learning urdu & watching every Bollywood<\/em>
\nmovie & soap opera I can find. I’ll cook kalaijee<\/em>
\n& not let them up from the table until each chicken
\nbone is cracked open & all the marrow is gone.
\nI’ll show up at all their PTA meetings in shalwaar<\/em>
\nkameez,<\/em> snarling at their teachers while I call
\nthem gorrahs<\/em>, insulting them in their classrooms.
\nI’ll stain my teeth with paan & naswar<\/em>, dye
\nour palms & hair with henna<\/em>, sugar wax
\nmoustaches. I’ll dress my bucchi<\/em> in timberlands
\n& handmade velvet dresses, I’ll sew all their shirts
\njust like my auntie did for me & wake them up
\nat 5am every day to read the Q’uran<\/em>. I’ll send
\nthem to Sunday School with the local imam<\/em>
\nwhile I down bloody maries at the brunch spot.
\nI’ll brush off their beds with a bristle broom
\n& make them use a lota<\/em> & squat toilet.
\nEvery time we get invited to a wedding
\nI’ll try to arrange a marriage with some doctor
\nfrom Pakistan waiting for a green card.
\nWe’ll sit in our house kupri<\/em> & I’ll oil their hair
\nwith almonds, gather their waves into braids
\n& whisper don’t lose this. Please<\/em>, miri jaani
\ndon’t let America take you<\/em>. This is the only way
\nI know how to be us. And really, it isn’t so bad.<\/p>\n

Fatimah Asghar<\/a><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m spending the nine months I’m pregnant re-learning urdu & watching every Bollywood movie & soap opera I can find. I’ll cook kalaijee & not let them up from the table until each chicken bone is cracked open & all the marrow is gone. I’ll show up at all their PTA meetings in shalwaar kameez, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":354,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[46],"tags":[25],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Jypy-3f8","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12470"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/354"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12470"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12577,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12470\/revisions\/12577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}