I Speak for the Devil

Imtiaz Dharker’s cultural experience spans three countries. Born in Pakistan she grew up in Glasgow, and now divides her time between Bombay and London. It is from this life of transitions that she draws her themes: childhood, exile, journeying, home and religious strife. In her latest work, the woman’s body is a territory, a thing that is possessed, owned by herself or by another. The title of the book speaks for the devil in acknowledging that in many societies women are respected, or listened to, only when they are carrying someone else inside their bodies—a child; a devil. For some, to be ‘possessed’ is to be set free. Dharker’s poems trace a complex and revelatory journey, starting with a striptease where the claims of nationality, religion and gender are cast off, to allow an exploration of new territories. Strong and economical, they raise issues of political activity, homesickness, urban violence and religious anomalies in the most ordinary and unobtrusive of settings.