I look up to you greatly Thou art an amazing lady In you, do I see a fire That refuses to die, no matter what You lay your soul threadbare Wit, is one of your greatest assets Never do you back down from a fight In a tunnel full of never-ending darkness Are you the light Which keeps emptiness and depression at bay And puts us firmly on the path to happiness Come what may!
I look up to you greatly Your writing is so fiery That it can spark a raging inferno Full of righteous anger Against all the injustice perpetrated by the Indian State The lynchings that refuse to abate Poor and underprivileged children dying of hunger People being denied homes due to their caste While the government has the sheer nerve to boast About its so-called achievements Your poems are a testament To the famous saying "The pen is mightier than the sword" Very hard-hitting indeed, are your words!!
I look up to you greatly Never dost thou fail to amaze Every story of yours is a maze Full of character arcs and plot twists Ensuring we get hooked very fast And by the time we finally put the book down Our minds would have been blown!!
I look up to you greatly Never dost thou fail to raise your voice When it cometh to social justice Yet, somehow do you manage to maintain your poise In the face of never-ending malice Which is constantly thrown your way The way you keep your detractors at bay Is something we must all learn Thanks to people like you, have I gradually started to unlearn Certain things I once considered gospel truth Excel do you, at transforming the narrative When it cometh to our Hindu myths For your community, do you live Not yourself Hopefully, more books of yours may soon adorn my shelf!!
I look up to you greatly Thou art a wonderful role model Bestsellers, are your novels You love your profession As much as Israel loves to lie You yourself are an institution And always do you aim for the sky So much have you done for our society With an absolutely brutal honesty That beggars belief Your writings provide some much-needed relief In these dark and difficult times Where even mere dissent is often treated as a crime!!
I look up to you greatly For you, is impossible nothing And social justice, everything!! By the Grace of God May all your dreams come true And may you have nothing to rue Finally, must I say More power to you, Meena!!
Poem dedicated to Meena Kandasamy - award-winning author, poet, translator, anti-caste activist, intersectional feminist and academic; and one of my idols.