Poor India's poor daughter
Going to read
In a poor school,
A girl from the hamlet
...
Where there is a voice for peace,
A ceasefire
From the warfare,
Heavy bombardment and shelling
...
An Indian girl wanting to look like a foreigner
Has cut her hair short
To be bobby-cut
And has browned the hair
...
The cinema halls
With the walkies-talkie photos
Of coloured and painted men and women
Depicted as heroes and heroines
...
Poet, poet, poet, God, where are You,
Are you listening to me,
O, God,
My God,
...
The poets are coming,
Let me hide behind
To escape them,
The literati,
...
Poetry, what is poetry,
Poetry is written words,
Spoken not,
Written,
...
God, God, save me, save me
From the mad people,
Pseudo-scholars and critics
Maddening it all,
...