Daljit Nagra: Our Daughter, The Bible Flasher!

Daljit Nagra

Daljit Nagra was born and brought up in West London and Sheffield. He lives in London and works as a secondary school English teacher. He won the 2003 Smith/Doorstop pamphlet competition with Oh my Rub!, under the pseudonym Khan Singh. In 2004, his poem “Look We Have Coming to Dover!” won the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem. This is also the title of his first collection, published in 2007, which won the Forward Poetry Prize for Best First Collection. Look We Have Coming to Dover! was also shortlisted for the Costa Poetry Award and the Jerwood Aldeburgh First Collection Prize.

Our Daughter, The Bible Flasher!

… but you must our daughter cure Dr Jackie!
No turmeric spell by wife help, last night at wedding
party ov son, wid girls whooping on broomstick dance
and wise ladies gassing voodoo-powders in corner
for toying wid rickshaw-tired stars, I leav di Bacardi
Bernand-Manning-joke-cracking boys who show we laugh
can take from tele; in hallway I catch dis two foot girl
twitchey her nose, could it be … ? O Dr Jackie, our Rapinder
standing by dis blue god of photo who get more blue
as sari tutt-tutt-tattering to lino, under she white collar wear
and black cotton costume, wid nose to di artex ceiling
she march wid bible for party tent, screeching: All tings
bright and beautipel … So please Dr Jackie! I roll her up
in sari rags to play wid Black Magic masks upstairs
(we all families hav) and ask her, Wut is rong wid Rub?
Always again in British on me: Does he too do Christmas
making money for charities wid Cliff Richard?