Sutapa Chaudhuri

No.
Feminism
Doesn't mean you're promiscuous
Only that you refuse to be contained-
...

O my native soil, I bow my head to you in deep obeisance.
In you rests the universe, on you is spread the love of the universal mother.
You have become blended in my body,
You have united with my heart and soul,
...

I became a mother today,
You a little girl-
A soft cuddly ball of love
Held close in my arms.
...

however you might trample me
I will rise again.
untouched, unloved, unheeded-
defined, deified, dismembered
...

rejection confines
the very fibre of life
bones chilled
frost bitten
...

my jasmine spreading perfume in the wind
my sprite of sun dancing on the rays
my starlight, moonbeam
undaunted, blazing,
...

My true colors lie hidden
not fair, nor dusky
I search for my true colours
I want to be like myself
...

breathing under water
slow, laborious
standing on a bed of thorns
living an exotic life in death.
...

Shrill whistles bellow from steaming cookers
The tinkle of tea cups resonate with hushed voices
A few tears mixed with officious rituals mourn the sad demise
The stale old sari gets discarded in a heap of washing
...

My life
a stillborn baby
deformed, sterile,
a quivering bloody mass
...

Up close and personal with death
A catalogue of soulless formalities
Business rituals mundane matters
Penny pinching nitty-gritties of life
...

Play on, dear poet, your tunes melodious
In intensely profound tones in my soul—
Molten let my life rain down like a waterfall on your feet.
Let me forget all joy or woe, worry, unfulfilled desires—
...

Creator, Preserver, Destroyer,
I'm a Woman, I.
I’m Mother, Mother Earth.
My Being luminous
...

Brave hearts don’t survive
The vicissitudes of dark life
Ogling in sadistic anticipation
Lips licking they wait just round the corner
...

R
A
P
E
...

Tears brimmed over my eyes
Beneath the empty recesses of the heart there loomed
Dense water-laden clouds borne along by a graceful gentle breeze
Pleasant, the night awoke again in joyous delight
...

sometimes I miss them so much
my childhood friends,
my companions from bygone days
the long hours on a lazy afternoon
...

My heart brims with nectar, do you desire it?
Alas, perhaps you failed to notice!
The sweet fragrance of the Parijat, can you smell?
Alas, perchance it too seems out of bounds!
...

Life is a gift of love, enjoy it;
Youth creates life, embrace it;
Roots sustain life, depend on it;
Ideas enhance life, hold on to it;
...

I'm the same woman
as you are
only I don't believe
in carrying a mark
...