Family Tongue | Rahat Tasneem

The following poem by Rahat Tasneem from New Delhi was selected as a commendable mention in Wingword Poetry Prize 2020

My father has many tongues,

but little feelings to go with them

and is sparse with his words.

Maybe you don’t need too many words

when you have a miscegenation of languages

at your disposal.

 

My mother is certain, and verbose in her monolingualism.

 

I struggle between my two languages-

one found, one forgotten.

 

All of us still fail to understand each other.