Tissue

• CONTEXT

  Tissue comes from Dharker's collection called "The terrorist at my table" - focusses on politics, religion and fundamentalism. Tissue is the first poem of this collection and so acts as a preface to explore the source of fundamentalism. ↝ Perhaps this critical view is reflective of her having to see her husband suffer with cancer for 11 years before passing away which may have demonstrated to her the temporary nature of life.
• Use of Enjambment

  ↝ Lacks control and defies constriction.

  ↝ The freedom of the lines reflects that lack on control mankind truly has.

  ↝ It undermines the supposed order and control that humans seem to have.
• Free Verse

  ↝ Reflects the lack of power man has. As much as mankind tries to order, dictate and control, their efforts are ultimately futile.
• 'Paper that lets light shine through, this is what could alter things'

  • Metaphor of 'light' has divine connotations such as wisdom, guidance and knowledge as it casts illumination onto the illusion of permanence man-made structures hold
  • Sense of irony as despite the paper being delicate enough to allow this 'light' to 'shine through', it is able to exert an immense influence on the world - this highlights the paradox of both man's immense power and man's fragility.
• 'If buildings were paper...how easily they fall away on a sigh, a shift in the direction of the wind'

  • 'Buildings' connotes sturdiness, density & power - juxtaposes 'paper' which connotes delicacy which ultimately highlights the fragility of humanity and man's creations
  • Metaphor of buildings being paper suggests that society is frangible & implies how delicately balanced civilisation is as a 'shift in the direction of the wind' could cause it to fall away
• 'Maps too. The sun shines through their borderlines... rail tracks, mountain folds'

  • 'Maps too' - Short blunt line reflects the fixed nature of maps & borders & how they create division rather than freedom
  • Asyndetic listing structurally breaks up the parts contained in the map, reflecting man's desire to control things even in the natural world. The tight control suggests that man exerts its power over nature by trying to segregate and control
• 'And thinned to be transparent, turned into you skin'

  • Adj 'transparent' may literally be referencing the see through quality of the paper, however it could also suggest that the poet can see through the bravado and claims of man's power. She sees humanity as it is; immensely insubstantial
  • 'Skin' - Extended metaphor directly links paper to skin, referring back to the title which reinforces how humanity is fragile and can easily be overcome like paper