Poem

Abdul Rahman Shiil The narrator of this poem, who is of mixed race, describes the gifts of clothes and jewellery sent to her in England by her Pakistani relatives. She is drawn to the loveliness of these things, but feels awkward wearing them. She feels more comfortable in English clothes - denim and corduroy. She contrasts the beautiful clothes and jewellery of India with boring English 'cardigans/from Marks and Spencer'. She tries to remember …

…clothes have little mirrors embroidered on them I admired the mirror work but would still rather wear jeans. She realises that all this is part of her own family's past, and another side of her identity. At the end of the poem, she tries to imagine how it might have been if she'd lived in Lahore instead, and wonders would she have been more or less at home in the other half of her background. . .