Companionship Poem by Prathibha Nandakumar

Marriage is more lonely than solitude
- Adrienne Rich


This room is too small
It cannot hold the anger of two.
This air is insufficient for both
Its already suffocating too

We were two in this house
living at different times
We did not carry the same yoke
this filed is very big to plough

You can strike a match to
the dry leaves and make a fire
You can keep three stones as stove
on the wayside and cook a meal
You can sleep under a tree and get pregnant
The flower pot in the neighbor’s house
can light up your eyes

but you cannot be a dog in the house
where cats are preferred

Behind every successful man
there is a woman
Behind ever successful woman
there is a dissatisfied man


Translated from Kannada by the poet