Anaum Sajanlal

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after Ezzideen Shehab, for his cousin Qasem

Here is oppression and high poetry: death
made slow, frequent, staggering. And we turn away. And when it comes
for us, we will be gazing at a painting of a tiny body wrapped
in white, oblivious to the grief of the artist and his canvas he rips out. The wood in
art burns well. He cooks for his family. For ours, we build our monuments to civility.

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Anaum Sajanlal is a genderqueer femme lesbian who writes on queerness, survivorship, colonialism, and resistance. They are a settler in Tsi Tkaronto from colonially-named India and Pakistan. She can be found knitting surrounded by her abundance of niece and nephew pets.

‘Golden Shovel Against Bureaucracy’ was Highly Commended in the Briefly Write Poetry Prize 2025.