- dramatic monologuenoun
A poem spoken entirely by a single character addressing an implied audience, revealing personality and situation through their own words rather than through a narrator's description.
- bredrennounChapter 1 →
An informal, affectionate term for close friends or fellow community members, drawn from British urban and Caribbean-influenced slang; here used by the customers calling out to the speaker.
“Hey Singh, ver yoo bin? my bredren cry—”
- crew cutnounChapter 1 →
A very short hairstyle where the hair is clipped close to the head all over; here used to describe the bride's unconventional, closely cropped red hair.
“my bride she hav a red crew cut and she wear a Tartan sari a donkey jacket and some pumps”
- Tartan sariphraseChapter 1 →
A traditional South Asian draped garment made from Scottish plaid fabric, combining two distinct cultural identities into one hybrid piece of clothing that signals the bride's defiant mixing of cultures.
“my bride she hav a red crew cut and she wear a Tartan sari a donkey jacket and some pumps”
- donkey jacketnounChapter 1 →
A heavy, dark working-class overcoat originally worn by manual labourers in Britain, typically with a reinforced patch across the shoulders; wearing one is an unconventional fashion choice for a bride.
“my bride she hav a red crew cut and she wear a Tartan sari a donkey jacket and some pumps”
- pumpsnounChapter 1 →
Simple, flat or low-heeled slip-on shoes with no fastenings; a casual, everyday footwear choice that contrasts with the formality one might expect of a bride.
“my bride she hav a red crew cut and she wear a Tartan sari a donkey jacket and some pumps”
- eroticanounChapter 1 →
Literature or other material intended to arouse sexual desire; here it names the kind of reading material the bride occupies herself with at the shop counter.
- registernounChapter 1 →
The cash register or till at the front of a shop where payments are taken; here it refers to the checkout point the speaker is supposed to be manning.
- dinounChapter 1 →
A Punjabi-inflected spelling of 'the' or an affectionate shorthand for 'mother' as used in the poem's dialect voice; here it refers to the speaker's mother who scolds him.
“I vunt to hav a break, I tell her, but she say vee share in di dark our dum peoms”
- dum peomsphraseChapter 1 →
A phonetic, dialect spelling of 'dumb poems,' meaning silent or wordless poems; the couple's private, whispered exchanges in the dark that they treat as their own intimate poetry.
“I vunt to hav a break, I tell her, but she say vee share in di dark our dum peoms”
- vuntverbChapter 1 →
A phonetic spelling of 'want,' written to represent the speaker's Punjabi-accented English pronunciation, where the 'w' sound shifts toward 'v'.
“I vunt to hav a break, I tell her, but she say vee share in di dark our dum peoms”
- ver yoo binphraseChapter 1 →
A phonetic rendering of 'where have you been,' written to capture the Punjabi-inflected accent of the speaker and his community, where 'wh' becomes 'v' and vowels shift.
“Hey Singh, ver yoo bin? my bredren cry—”
Singh Song!Short story by Daljit Nagra