The Right Word Summary

The Right Word Overview

"The right word" is a political poem by artist, poet, and filmmaker Imtiaz Dharker. It was originally published in her 2006 collection The terrorist at my table. In "The right word," Dharker considers the power that language holds in shaping our world view. Outside the speaker's door, an unknown figure evokes different feelings depending on the emotive language that the speaker uses to describe him. The figure goes from being a terrorist to a respectful young boy that the speaker invites in for dinner, showing how false associations and assumptions can cloud our relations with others.