"dalit" poems - Hello Poetry

Yesterday Was in the ecstasy Of realizing that We were Those two On earth Who liked bitter gourd curry Cooked with coconut milk …. Remember? Think it was In the sixth life. We were Two nascent bitter guards On the pandal Spread in the northern corner Of the farmland Belonging to a grandmother In a village in Mississippi Who used to attend to the orchards Sitting in a wheelchair. We had Watched earth And peeked At the sky Hanging from the same stalk The scar left From your tight clasp on my thigh Scared After spotting a double tailed pest Is still there. The pleasure of that pain Makes me tearful now. I am like the faces In the house of deceased Sobbing At times Bursting into tears The next moment Holding back After a while. Sometimes I am all the faces In the house of the dead Tears have Nothing to do with them. Sometimes The wedding house Will laugh and laugh Till its cheeks hurt. Just like you. My dear bitter guard, When will we Go back to that Pandal in Mississippi Where we had pulsated From a single stalk? Aren’t we the ones To offer obsequies To that grandmother Who looked after us With pots Of wholehearted love? Translator - Shyma P Shyma P : Works in Payyanur College, Payyanur. Translator and film critic. Has translated poems and articles in Malayalam Literary Survey, The Oxford India Anthology of Malayalam Dalit Literature, online magazines like Gulmohar, Readleaf Poetry as well as scripts and subtitles for short films.

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Dec 15, 2015

Dec 15, 2015 at 8:43 PM UTC

kuzhur

Letters to Violet -11

Yesterday Was in the ecstasy Of realizing that We were Those two On earth Who liked bitter gourd curry Cooked with coconut milk …. Remember? Think it was In the sixth life. We were Two nascent bitter guards On the pandal Spread in the northern corner Of the farmland Belonging to a grandmother In a village in Mississippi Who used to attend to the orchards Sitting in a wheelchair. We had Watched earth And peeked At the sky Hanging from the same stalk The scar left From your tight clasp on my thigh Scared After spotting a double tailed pest Is still there. The pleasure of that pain Makes me tearful now. I am like the faces In the house of deceased Sobbing At times Bursting into tears The next moment Holding back After a while. Sometimes I am all the faces In the house of the dead Tears have Nothing to do with them. Sometimes The wedding house Will laugh and laugh Till its cheeks hurt. Just like you. My dear bitter guard, When will we Go back to that Pandal in Mississippi Where we had pulsated From a single stalk? Aren’t we the ones To offer obsequies To that grandmother Who looked after us With pots Of wholehearted love? Translator - Shyma P Shyma P : Works in Payyanur College, Payyanur. Translator and film critic. Has translated poems and articles in Malayalam Literary Survey, The Oxford India Anthology of Malayalam Dalit Literature, online magazines like Gulmohar, Readleaf Poetry as well as scripts and subtitles for short films.