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Literature, PoetryFebruary 23, 2017

Seams

Look at me, by Syed Arsalan Naqvi. Image courtesy of ArtChowk the Gallery.

My grandmother knew
borders are like seams:
they must be sewed
tightly to hold, and

doubled back so as not
to unravel. Every dress
she ever sewed had a
secret pocket: for

dreams, memories, the
faces of the beloved
forever falling away
into the distance —

Coins sewn into the
hem weigh us down, she
said, drag us to our
graves.

~ Ottilie Mulzet

Poet’s note: ‘Seams’ is about a grandmother about whom I know practically next to nothing, except that she was a seamstress in Hungary and worked in Budapest before immigrating to the New World sometime before WWII. I have often wondered what it was like for her to make that momentous journey across the ocean – as far as I know, alone – and her life in emigration. She remains a hazy figure, without outlines – I only know that I must carry something of her in me.

Ottilie Mulzet translates from Hungarian and Mongolian, and writes literary criticism. Her translation of László Krasznahorkai’s ‘Seiobo There Below’ won the Best Translated Book Award in 2014, and in 2015, she shared the Translator’s Prize with poet and fellow translator George Szirtes for László Krasznahorkai’s lifetime achievement Man Booker International Prize. Forthcoming translations include ‘Lazarus’, by Gábor Schein (Seagull Books, 2017), and ‘The Homecoming of Baron Wenckheim’ by László Krasznahorkai (New Directions, 2018). In addition, she is completing a dissertation about Mongolian riddles, and a book of translations of Mongolian Buddhist legends.

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Ottilie MulzetPoems Against BorderspoetrySyed Arsalan Naqvi

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One last love letter...

April 24, 2021

It has taken us some time and patience to come to this decision. TMS would not have seen the success that it did without our readers and the tireless team that ran the magazine for the better part of eight years.

But… all good things must come to an end, especially when we look at the ever-expanding art and literary landscape in Pakistan, the country of the magazine’s birth.

We are amazed and proud of what the next generation of creators are working with, the themes they are featuring, and their inclusivity in the diversity of voices they are publishing. When TMS began, this was the world we envisioned…

Though the magazine has closed and our submissions shuttered, this website will remain open for the foreseeable future as an archive of the great work we published and the astounding collection of diverse voices we were privileged to feature.

If, however, someone is interested in picking up the baton, please email Maryam Piracha, the editor, at maryamp@themissingslate.com.

Farewell, fam! It’s been quite a ride.

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