Understanding "Tissue" by Imtiaz Dharker

Ever wondered why something as simple as paper can hold so much power over our lives? Dharker starts by showing us how light shines through different types of paper - from religious texts like the Koran to everyday receipts that track our spending.

The religious imagery is crucial here. Light has always symbolised truth and enlightenment in holy books, and Dharker uses this to question what we value most. She contrasts the worn, treasured pages of the Koran (filled with family histories and touched with love) against the throwaway nature of shop receipts that represent our capitalist obsessions.

Key insight: The poet suggests that whilst we treat money and material wealth as incredibly important, these things are actually as fragile as tissue paper. The metaphor works because both can be easily torn, blown away, or destroyed - yet we build our entire lives around them.

The poem's structure mirrors its message. Dharker uses free verse and enjambment to show that even within restrictive forms (like society's rules), freedom and chaos exist underneath. It's like she's saying that no matter how solid our systems seem, they're actually quite flimsy.

Remember: The paper metaphor runs throughout the entire poem - it represents both fragility and the things we mistakenly think are permanent, like borders, buildings, and economic systems.