tissue context

• Dharker was born in Pakistan but grew up in Glasgow.

  • She describes herself as a "Scottish Muslim Calvinist" adopted into India and married into Wales.
• A lot of Dharker's poetry focuses on identity, perhaps stemming from her ability to balance her conflicting identities.
• 'Tissue' is from a 2006 collection called "The terrorist at my table" which focuses on politics, terrorism, and fundamentalism (literal interpretations of scripture).

  • As the first poem in the collection, Tissue acts as a preface of sorts, commenting on what Dharker believes to be the root of these problems: abuse and misuse of power.
• Tissue's pessimistic viewpoint on the fickleness of human life may stem from her heart-wrenching experience with her husband, who passed away after an 11 year long battle with cancer.