My Mother’s Kitchen – Choman Hardi (2004) Flashcards
Who was Choman Hardi?
Choman Hardi was born in Iraqi-Kurdistan in 1974 and came to England in 1993 after growing up in Iran and Turkey. Her poetry focuses on the strength of the human spirit and stem from her own and others personal and political struggles. She now lives in Suliamani and works at the American university of Iraq.
What is some historical context which influenced the poem?
The poem was written in 2004, just after the Iraq war. Hardi’s parents decided to go home to Iraq after years of being away from their homeland and this poem is about them packing up their home to move on yet again. The mismatched belongings and her mother’s lack of sentimentality about her belongings reflect their lives as immigrants and moving around a lot.
What is the form and structure of the poem?
The poem has 3 stanzas – each with a different number of lines. This unequal and fractured structure reflects her mother’s fractured life and how she has moved from place to place
The truncated structure can be interpreted as a reflection of the mother’s erratic life.
What is the tone of the poem?
The tone of the poem is full of love and nostalgia for her mother. There is regret as she realises that she won’t inherit some of the more permanent and natural elements of her mother’s as they have been destroyed by war
