tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4200051417982539872024-03-13T16:34:10.223-07:00inksofvoidpoojahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437929693374573249noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-420005141798253987.post-3659988860801924912023-02-25T21:44:00.000-08:002023-02-25T21:44:57.343-08:00Ankush Rakela<p> <span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;">1.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;">My paycheque overshadows my
worldview</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">I cannot afford to voice my
opinion<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">I squirm in the comfort of
shutting up for my loved ones<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">My safety net wasn't woven
that dense <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">2.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;">A peek into a larger world,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">I am pulled back by the <i>ankush</i>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">of check marks against my name
on a society list.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">I was taught to fear
instability, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">to remain afloat and not
cause ripples <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">I was also taught to use a
lot of words<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">as any woman should in a
male dominated world. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">A wrinkle-free everyday <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">thanks to privilege <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">where any reaching out <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">is read as an act of pity <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">3.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;">I flex and the air around
you shrinks</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">I am convex when I stand in
the crowd-<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">entitled space, I was meant
to occupy <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">even before I was born - <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">Quick to reach the counter
at my local shop <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">I am concave as I bow down<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">to education and
intelligence<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">inert happy, inside a
bubble <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">not wanting to interact
with the outside <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">I fuse instead with the
father of my child <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">we parent together, or make
love. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">4.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;">I am an umbrella over the
ones I protect</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">and a bucket when I receive<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">These identities where I
take your space<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">and you take mine <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">intersect <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">5.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;">When I was seven, I touched
Rakela</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">who worked in our fields <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">Amma had asked me to give
her a glass of water <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">She swept it away <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">fearfully, inevitably
saying, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Garamond",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">the child doesn't know.<o:p></o:p></span></p>poojahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437929693374573249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-420005141798253987.post-71389984129408705552021-05-05T03:26:00.001-07:002021-05-05T03:26:04.776-07:00Agarwal thathi<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Agarwal thathi<br />
<br />
<br />
I.<br />
<br />
In a tiny flat in New Panvel,<br />
idlis are passed around,<br />
a celebration of her passing.<br />
<br />
'No lunch without <i>oorga</i>'<br />
she insisted her bed ridden tongue<br />
got the tangy smear, daily.<br />
<br />
She fed with her hands, her sweat,<br />
and her heart, stuffing growling stomachs<br />
with <i>kai murukku, cheedai, pakodaam</i> and <i>boondi</i>.<br />
<br />
Her identity strongly scented<br />
with decoction <i>kaapi</i>, <i>hing</i> in her <i>sambaar</i>,<br />
her pickled <i>pulikachal</i> took her across the seas.<br />
<br />
<br />
II.<br />
<br />
Evenings at Kesar Villa with granddaughters,<br />
she coloured with her magenta <i>kumkumam</i>,<br />
gifted jasmine <i>gajras</i> wrapped in leaf packets.<br />
<br />
Heady fragrance of Mysore Sandal Soap mingled with <i>chaafa</i>, her colourful nine yards<br />
with white blouses from Arvind Mills.<br />
<br />
Potato chips in a square tin box<br />
with occasional jam and <i>khaari</i>.<br />
<i>Nei paayasam</i> on Fridays in <i>Aadi Maasam</i>.<br />
<br />
Always, a flow of abundance,<br />
but not for everyone.<br />
<br />
<br />
III.<br />
<br />
In her world, women got pregnant<br />
when saree petticoats spoke<br />
to <i>langotis</i> on the drying line.<br />
<br />
Boiling water satisfied cravings,<br />
of her <i>tulsi</i> plant that blossomed<br />
out of its pot, as if on Viagra.<br />
<br />
"<i>Haavu</i>!!" Uncles played striptease,<br />
making themselves a little too comfortable.<br />
What next, she would wonder.<br />
<br />
She enjoyed these risqué escapades,<br />
hands hiding her face, as laughter<br />
and tears rolled down her cheeks.<br />
<br />
<br />
IV. <br />
<br />
Turned off the radio, mid-song,<br />
as she spotted her husband<br />
from the Akhila Kunj balcony.<br />
<br />
Filled both of her son's pockets<br />
with chana, to nibble on<br />
as he left for work each day.<br />
<br />
Slapped her daughter<br />
who danced in a school performance<br />
without asking her first.<br />
<br />
Calls of "Labour pains have started, <i>maami</i>!"<br />
she answered with hurried visits<br />
all over Matunga.<br />
<br />
Summoned to control the next-door<br />
uncle's manic rage, she brought him down<br />
with iron grip and steel gaze.<br />
<br />
<br />
V.<br />
<br />
Daughter of a straying school teacher,<br />
blankets mimicked his profile<br />
on the porch nocturnally.<br />
<br />
Back home, she would scale<br />
coconut trees by the night,<br />
to dive into ponds of Koovapaddy.<br />
<br />
As a new bride in Bombay,<br />
she refused to shit in her first,<br />
white tiled toilet.<br />
<br />
When pregnancy fatigued her<br />
she rested standing, leaning her head<br />
against mattress stacks.<br />
<br />
<i>Chhota</i> Thathi - bald, with hanging earlobes,<br />
kept vigil on her daughter-in-law from her bed<br />
in the room at the far end of the house.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">Glossary:</div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">oorga: pickle</div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">kai murukku: deep fried savoury snack (chaklis made with hand)</div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">cheedai, pakodaam, boondi: deep fried savoury snacks</div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">kaapi: coffee</div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">hing: asafoetida</div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">sambaar: Indian lentil soup</div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">pulikachal: spicy, tangy sauce made of tamarind</div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">kumkumam: powder used for social and religious markings in India</div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">chaafa: champaca flower</div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">gajras: flower garland</div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">khaari: layered baked savoury snack, mostly not prepared at home.</div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">Nei Paayasam: pudding made using clarified butter</div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">Aadi Maasam: A month in the Tamil calendar</div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">langoti: loincloth</div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">tulsi: holy basil</div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">Maami: a common usage to address a woman of acquaintance</div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">chana: chickpea</div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">chhota thathi: little grandmother.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">Published in the Hong Kong based Voice and Verse Poetry Magazine, Issue 56: Home (November- December 2020) </div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">https://vvpoetry.com/2020/11/07/issue-57-november-december-2020-special-feature-home</div></div></div></div>
poojahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437929693374573249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-420005141798253987.post-79452100468649472082021-05-05T03:25:00.000-07:002021-05-05T03:25:16.179-07:00Thathi, chill!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
On a stool in a new bathroom.<br />
Mugs of water poured, gently over my head<br />
relieve me from sweltering heat.<br />
<br />
A wet ear held next to a cellphone.<br />
I hear hysterical sobs,<br />
then silence, to gain composure -<br />
<br />
"Are you ok?"<br />
<br />
Thathi, in Navi Mumbai <br />
imagines my communal bath<br />
in Nellore before Nalugu.<br />
<br />
Her innards churn,<br />
she demands<br />
that I stop it immediately.<br />
<br />
She tells me how<br />
her mother was stripped naked on her wedding day<br />
before being made to wear a new saree.<br />
<br />
This cloak of protection thickens across generations,<br />
just as the cloak of shame thins out.<br />
<br />
I've bathed with friends at fourteen-<br />
a drenched state<br />
isn't mortifying anymore.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Published in the Hong Kong based Voice and Verse Poetry Magazine, Issue 56: Home (November- December 2020) </div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">https://vvpoetry.com/2020/11/07/issue-57-november-december-2020-special-feature-home/</div>
poojahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437929693374573249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-420005141798253987.post-46056650691507562742021-02-22T16:12:00.002-08:002021-02-22T16:13:42.667-08:00Love, sent to a single loaded corridor<p>Hanging upside down, like a giant lizard </p><p>I cling to you with unblinking calm, </p><p>draw waves along your length.</p><p><br /></p><p>I dream of ways to inhabit you again,</p><p>my Marsyas, as your voussoirs shelter me </p><p>under nine arches.</p><p><br /></p><p>Out from under the First, I regain balance</p><p>on moss-retaining tiles, checkered red,</p><p>laid at 1:5, turn away from its faint stench.</p><p><br /></p><p>Rants of a cutter-armed friend </p><p>ricochet off mount boards; she completes </p><p>my model, saving my ass under the Second. </p><p><br /></p><p>A ninja jumps out from under the Third</p><p>negotiating a bush, watered from above.</p><p>A puddle forms in broken asphalt.</p><p><br /></p><p>I witness a red-rose proposal </p><p>under the Fourth, where level differences </p><p>match heights, and hearts.</p><p><br /></p><p>Perpendicular runs under the Fifth, midway</p><p>on steps that bite into the plinth,</p><p>stage ephemeral greetings, impromptu baithaks.</p><p><br /></p><p>T-scales dumped under the Sixth –</p><p>the ancient bearer of unreadable results </p><p>that wears a baroque egg tiara and watches on.</p><p><br /></p><p>Vapour swirls from tea, served in paper cups </p><p>held by Dumbledore Longbeards,</p><p>spilling out of seminars, racing to reach the Seventh.</p><p><br /></p><p>I wade through a copy of the new Shilpasagar, </p><p>on a table, as I peep into the Principal's cabin </p><p>under the Eighth. Sore </p><p><br /></p><p>from an overdose of architecture,</p><p>I turn to the fine arts, a gallop away, </p><p>to contemplate an escape under the Ninth.</p><p><br /></p><p>I don't act on it.</p><p>Oscillating between volume bursts</p><p>You are Newton's cradle,</p><p>I come to you, to go nowhere.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">Published in the February 2021 issue of the Indo French (Jaipur-Paris) RIC journal https://ricjournal.com/2021/02/22/love-sent-to-a-single-loaded-corridor-pooja-ugrani/</span></p>poojahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437929693374573249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-420005141798253987.post-75659832325591596282021-02-16T20:33:00.004-08:002021-02-19T14:09:06.846-08:00Reading poetry<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr">
I jump into your quagmire</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
wading through greys </div>
<div dir="ltr">
like a sieve, between fiction</div>
<div dir="ltr">
and places that aren't.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Stained with what sticks </div>
<div dir="ltr">
I wish the rest remains </div>
<div dir="ltr">water under a bridge.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Tell me, </div><div dir="ltr">did you jump in naked too?</div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: small;">Published in The Woman Inc Poetry Series on 03/02/2021 link: https://thewomaninc.com/2021/02/03/twi-poetry-reading-poetry-vaira-mookkutti/</span></div>
</div>
poojahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437929693374573249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-420005141798253987.post-81723242068071386362021-02-16T20:33:00.002-08:002021-02-19T13:16:10.620-08:00Vaira mookutti<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
keloids shine alongside stones,<br />
survival of the right nostril<br />
threatened by her <i>maamiyaar</i><br />
who aggressively strives<br />
to home in a fat pin<br />
into allergic skin<br />
with an almost,<br />
maternal enthusiasm<br />
<br />
she rescues herself<br />
resorting to<br />
<i>talagaani mantram</i><br />
after the third attempt.<br />
<br />
decades later,<br />
her great grand daughter yelps<br />
as she pushes it home,<br />
satisfied that she looks<br />
vintage, traditional, kitsch.<br />
<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Vaira mookutti</i> : diamond nose pin<br />
<i>Maamiyaar</i> : mother in law<br />
<i>Talahaani mantram</i> : pillow talk</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Published in The Woman Inc Poetry Series on 03/02/2021 link: https://thewomaninc.com/2021/02/03/twi-poetry-reading-poetry-vaira-mookkutti/</span></div>
poojahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437929693374573249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-420005141798253987.post-67724911094281873092020-10-17T10:14:00.001-07:002021-02-19T13:21:18.602-08:00Thud!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: left;">
A familiar sound</div>
drops boulders in my belly<br />
a second before i open the door.<br />
<br />
a skull that hit the floor, now bobs up<br />
to greet me in silent relief<br />
<br />
Guilt boils over, I let out an angry yowl,<br />
She joins in, confused<br />
I hug her, kneeling on the floor<br />
<br />
amidst debris of broken embankments<br />
pillows and bolsters mis-navigated<br />
in her flight from the bed<br />
<br />
Fear drives shame away. For a while,<br />
I keep the bathroom door open as vigil,<br />
postponing worldly lessons<br />
to a later date.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Published in The Mom Egg Review, Range of Motherhood folio on 14/09/2020 </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: x-small;">link: http://momeggreview.com/2020/09/14/thud-by-pooja-ugrani/</span></div>
poojahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437929693374573249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-420005141798253987.post-43592610327286379252020-08-27T12:00:00.004-07:002021-02-19T13:27:55.304-08:00Cheluvi<div style="text-align: left;">streaked with rivulets </div><p>you run through me, </p><p><br /></p><p>fragmented islands </p><p>submerge, resurface </p><p>in eyes that hold </p><p>azure tessellations.</p><p><br /></p><p>I blush a bristly persistent pink,</p><p>tear away only to know </p><p>I am consumed.</p><p><br /></p><p>I let you in </p><p>to become the raintree.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Cheluvi- </p><p>a film directed by Girish Karnad (1992) is the story of a girl who could convert herself to a tree.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Published in The Tiger Moth Review, Issue 5 on 26/01/2021<br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">link: https://www.thetigermothreview.com/blog/cheluvi</span></div>poojahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437929693374573249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-420005141798253987.post-91968352665323600132020-07-01T00:32:00.001-07:002021-02-19T13:33:00.684-08:00Jamun<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Over a bowl, we share<br />
our stories of the fruit.<br />
I sing a song from Jait Re Jait<br />
about a dhol played under a tree.<br />
She sticks her tongue out<br />
wanting it to emerge purple<br />
like Neema's from her story book.<br />
<br />
A cautious bite, a clean roll<br />
and a seed spat out,<br />
leave terrains on my agile tongue<br />
that I stick out to entice her.<br />
Unconvinced, she decides<br />
to lick a jamun, only for its colour.<br />
<br />
The astringent bites her tongue.<br />
She runs behind me, wanting<br />
to cleave my frozen ruts,<br />
plough through tightened textures,<br />
waving a pink comb for relief.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><p class="XzvDs _208Ie ljrnk blog-post-text-font blog-post-text-color _2QAo- _25MYV _1Fao9 ljrnk public-DraftStyleDefault-block-depth0 public-DraftStyleDefault-text-ltr" id="viewer-6nmiu" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: var(--ricos-custom-p-color,unset); direction: ltr !important; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="vkIF2 public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jamun – </em>Java plum</span></span></span></p><div class="XzvDs _208Ie ljrnk blog-post-text-font blog-post-text-color _2QAo- _25MYV _1Fao9 ljrnk public-DraftStyleDefault-block-depth0 public-DraftStyleDefault-text-ltr" id="viewer-4ht5d" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: var(--ricos-custom-p-color,unset); direction: ltr !important; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="vkIF2 public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: inherit;" /></span></span></div><p class="XzvDs _208Ie ljrnk blog-post-text-font blog-post-text-color _2QAo- _25MYV _1Fao9 ljrnk public-DraftStyleDefault-block-depth0 public-DraftStyleDefault-text-ltr" id="viewer-dl6bv" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: var(--ricos-custom-p-color,unset); direction: ltr !important; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="vkIF2 public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jait Re Jait </em>is a 1977 Indian Marathi language film directed by Dr. Jabbar Patel whose </span><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #202122; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">story revolves around a tribe named </span><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Thakar</span></span></span></p><div class="XzvDs _208Ie ljrnk blog-post-text-font blog-post-text-color _2QAo- _25MYV _1Fao9 ljrnk public-DraftStyleDefault-block-depth0 public-DraftStyleDefault-text-ltr" id="viewer-f3ths" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: var(--ricos-custom-p-color,unset); direction: ltr !important; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="vkIF2 public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: inherit;" /></span></span></div><p class="XzvDs _208Ie ljrnk blog-post-text-font blog-post-text-color _2QAo- _25MYV _1Fao9 ljrnk public-DraftStyleDefault-block-depth0 public-DraftStyleDefault-text-ltr" id="viewer-6pi4" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: var(--ricos-custom-p-color,unset); direction: ltr !important; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="vkIF2 public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Dhol -</em> drum</span></span></span></p><div class="XzvDs _208Ie ljrnk blog-post-text-font blog-post-text-color _2QAo- _25MYV _1Fao9 ljrnk public-DraftStyleDefault-block-depth0 public-DraftStyleDefault-text-ltr" id="viewer-6sv8k" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: var(--ricos-custom-p-color,unset); direction: ltr !important; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="vkIF2 public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: inherit; color: #181818; font-family: brandon-grot-w01-light, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;" /></span></span><span class="vkIF2 public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span><span class="vkIF2 public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span><span class="vkIF2 public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Published in The Alipore Post as 3 poems on Motherhood on 17/02/2021</span></span></div></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.thealiporepost.com/post/3-poems-on-motherhood-by-pooja-ugrani</span></div>
poojahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437929693374573249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-420005141798253987.post-64764213194449045052020-05-31T12:36:00.003-07:002021-02-19T13:38:08.905-08:00Holes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
she punches my eye blue<br />
a toe nail, storing clotted blood<br />
remains black for months<br />
after she drops a heavy vessel<br />
on it<br />
<br />
the reflex to strike back<br />
that I never tamed<br />
and always gave back to the world<br />
I now withhold with caution<br />
<br />
count, breathe, seethe. don't act<br />
she doesn't know it hurts,<br />
sees me in pain and hugs me<br />
still confused about what she did<br />
it is always a game for her<br />
<br />
yet, when all hell breaks loose<br />
for the umpteenth time<br />
after I have, in a low sincere voice<br />
tried to explain<br />
she still refuses to listen<br />
<br />
the physical force of her body<br />
overpowers me,<br />
flailing limbs land hurtful kicks<br />
punches make my arms give way<br />
<br />
I bite my lower lip,<br />
make big eyes, hold her arm<br />
and place a carefully weighed<br />
whack on her behind<br />
with a third of the force<br />
I feel inside<br />
<br />
rage boils over, a moment<br />
of regained control sears holes<br />
in me and in her<br />
that may take a lifetime to heal<br />
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<br />
01.06.2020</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span color="var(--ricos-custom-p-color,unset)" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span color="var(--ricos-custom-p-color,unset)" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span color="var(--ricos-custom-p-color,unset)" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span color="var(--ricos-custom-p-color,unset)" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">Published in The Alipore Post as 3 poems on Motherhood on 17/02/2021</span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.thealiporepost.com/post/3-poems-on-motherhood-by-pooja-ugrani</span></div>
poojahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437929693374573249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-420005141798253987.post-25035914318103172842020-05-31T12:29:00.003-07:002021-02-19T13:35:54.663-08:00Expecto Patronum<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
my toddler in the colony park<br />
breaks out into a wild dance<br />
celebrating the wind<br />
that sways huge trees all around her,<br />
just when the evening storm is setting in<br />
I egg her home<br />
run behind her screaming "Slow, slow!"<br />
with my jhola full of groceries<br />
as she speeds up in her pink scooter.<br />
<br />
This creates my shield<br />
fights a world that has become so gory<br />
I cannot understand it anymore<br />
I need help today<br />
for I have knelt down<br />
hung my head in shame<br />
<br />
She makes me get up and dance with her,<br />
we blow raspberries at each other,<br />
create bubbles with our saliva,<br />
birth marks become burp marks<br />
we hunt for muddy puddles<br />
where three different bow bows<br />
and diaper wearing snakes made caca<br />
<br />
She makes me<br />
forget a little, live a little.<br />
She is not my Horcrux,<br />
she is what my Patronus is made of.<br />
<br />
01.06.2020</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><div class="XzvDs _208Ie ljrnk blog-post-text-font blog-post-text-color _2QAo- _25MYV _1Fao9 ljrnk public-DraftStyleDefault-block-depth0 public-DraftStyleDefault-text-ltr" id="viewer-6sv8k" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: var(--ricos-custom-p-color,unset); direction: ltr !important; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="vkIF2 public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Published in The Alipore Post as 3 poems on Motherhood on 17/02/2021</span></span></div></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.thealiporepost.com/post/3-poems-on-motherhood-by-pooja-ugrani</span></div></div>
poojahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437929693374573249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-420005141798253987.post-11500085915573904162020-05-17T11:23:00.001-07:002021-02-19T13:48:31.439-08:00Two feet<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Two feet witness<br />
those toiling to reach home,<br />
witness the sum of all things unjust,<br />
all seasons adverse, weathered,<br />
shaped by the unprecedented.<br />
<br />
Two feet find<br />
the will to break barriers<br />
that segregate, cage, dictate<br />
leap over fears that open out<br />
possibilities to be shared as humans.<br />
<br />
Two feet unravel<br />
knots around identity,<br />
enriching such choices<br />
of what is imbibed and what is kept out,<br />
find their way through a tunnel that connects.<br />
<br />
18.05.2020<br />
<br /><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Published in <span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: gblack, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 1px;">hākārā: a bilingual journal of creative expression, </span>Turbulence, Issue 12 in September 2020 </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.hakara.in/pooja-ugrani/</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div>
poojahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437929693374573249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-420005141798253987.post-254372597449922142020-04-30T04:32:00.005-07:002021-02-19T13:49:21.725-08:00To giraffes who keep their necks above the clouds<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
aspire to reach the sun<br />
pine hard, long enough<br />
that anatomy changes<br />
<br />
crane up to bask<br />
in the effervescent sunlit sky<br />
at a hot air balloon's height<br />
<br />
then, also, stick your head<br />
into the bedazzling brilliance<br />
of a jumped-in monsoon puddle<br />
<br />
follow the sun to the ground<br />
the linear path imagined<br />
shall curl into a spiral<br />
<br />
bend down harder and<br />
you may see light shining<br />
under you, inside you<br />
<br />
laden clouds around your neck<br />
cast shadows, obscure vision<br />
'other' the world<br />
<br />
don't you want to be<br />
bigger than what shaped you?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
30.04.2020</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Published in <span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: gblack, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 1px;">hākārā: a bilingual journal of creative expression, </span>Turbulence, Issue 12 in September 2020 </span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.hakara.in/pooja-ugrani/</span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><br /></div></div>
poojahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437929693374573249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-420005141798253987.post-31503167556033267562020-04-15T18:12:00.001-07:002021-02-19T13:49:47.916-08:00Knife and phone<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div dir="ltr">
I sit down to enjoy my art</div>
<div dir="ltr">
with a knife and phone</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
a faint hunger works up <br />
after listless hours of scrolling, <br />
satiated by plating colours, <br />
textures, guising gnawing boredom</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
an elaborate post production<br />
followed by regular reporting<br />
to imagined drools, likes, <br />
hearts and compliments</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
a click later, the deafening roar of <br />
aeon travelled stomachs <br />
shatter my plate. I gulp splinters</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
stab what is left <br />
of hunger inside<br /></div>
<br /><br />
15.04.2020</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Published in <span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: gblack, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 1px;">hākārā: a bilingual journal of creative expression, </span>Turbulence, Issue 12 in September 2020 </span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.hakara.in/pooja-ugrani/</span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><br /></div></div>
poojahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437929693374573249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-420005141798253987.post-86081215678020101802020-03-10T09:07:00.001-07:002021-02-19T14:02:40.063-08:00C<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
"I can draw a C on your bum<br />
when you stand sideways"<br />
was when i started using<br />
three limp layers<br />
to drown a C of flesh<br />
<br />
extending below waistline<br />
slits on the sides<br />
of a straight cut,<br />
accommodate the C<br />
aid locomotion, on land<br />
<br />
to inspire flight,<br />
one would need<br />
to cut, rotate and hinge<br />
these fluttering flaps<br />
along a perpendicular axis<br />
<br />
today<br />
they instigate<br />
agonizing, culture driven,<br />
guilt ridden cover-ups<br />
of what is already covered<br />
<br />
anarkalis, with spacious insides,<br />
expand auras, promise more fun;<br />
they billow, cajole to spin,<br />
to mirror infamous aunts<br />
blown up by Harry Potter<br />
<br />
An accessible grab<br />
in the washroom<br />
a swift pull ensuring<br />
friction between cloth, skin, hair<br />
To savour blissful dry hours<br />
<br />
Fabric finds function<br />
satiates by sucking moisture<br />
<br />
I step out with wet patches<br />
over time moved consciously<br />
to improbable locations<br />
hoping they dry off, unnoticed<br />
for basic social acceptance<br />
<br />
olfactory traces of rubbing my insides out<br />
on the C covering garb marks my body<br />
filtering heads that are invited into my lap<br />
<br />
10.03.2020</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Published in Cafe Dissensus Everyday blog in April 2020</span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://cafedissensusblog.com/2020/04/07/three-poems-by-pooja-ugrani/</span></div></div>
poojahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437929693374573249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-420005141798253987.post-84605660315647404242020-01-13T08:15:00.005-08:002021-02-19T14:07:20.127-08:00To the boomer who called my baby a burden<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A throwaway remark<br />
dished out at lunch,<br />
oozing slyly<br />
at the colleague/husband<br />
by someone who has<br />
never provided for me,<br />
and never will.<br />
<br />
You have no idea,<br />
how and why we choose<br />
to live with each other,<br />
nursing our soreness,<br />
standing up to face the world,<br />
while a little being observes us<br />
closely, intently.<br />
<br />
As I step out to earn<br />
he steps in to rear<br />
I let her fall, dust her wounds,<br />
needing her to be tough<br />
he dresses her up,<br />
makes her look into the mirror<br />
to feel beautiful<br />
I teach her to live<br />
with what we have<br />
He allows her to indulge<br />
every once in a while<br />
<br />
There is no space in our lives<br />
for unmeasured judgments<br />
or unimaginative minds<br />
weighed down<br />
by the beliefs of yesteryears<br />
You cannot begin to fathom<br />
this magnanimously beautiful chaos<br />
we have painstakingly worked on.<br />
<br />
We sit<br />
on each other's shoulders<br />
we are our own giants,<br />
learning, dancing, fighting, fluid,<br />
filling each other's voids<br />
with everything<br />
that is anything but a burden.<br />
<br />
13.01.2020</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Published in Cafe Dissensus Everyday blog in April 2020</span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://cafedissensusblog.com/2020/04/07/three-poems-by-pooja-ugrani/</span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Also published in The Kali Project: Invoking the Goddess Within / Indian Women’s Voices on 08/01/2021 by Indie Blu(e) publishers</span></div></div>
poojahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437929693374573249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-420005141798253987.post-33701027084751108572019-12-15T23:03:00.006-08:002021-02-19T14:06:39.692-08:00Palimpsest<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I witnessed a child, wronged<br />
inside a temple and vowed<br />
i wouldn't enter one<br />
its sanctity, polluted for me<br />
to a point of no return<br />
<br />
the horror that child<br />
must have gone through<br />
contained there<br />
conflicted hard and battered<br />
my image of a temple<br />
<br />
of stone walls dimly lit,<br />
of facing light, bowing down<br />
eyes shut, to keep in and not keep out<br />
silences where voices are heard<br />
assuring you that you are safe<br />
<br />
I shut down, impotent, helpless<br />
hugged my young child<br />
and cried each night<br />
<br />
I cursed myself<br />
for having brought her<br />
into this messy coccoon,<br />
laced with pervading, engulfing<br />
nightmarish possibilities<br />
<br />
I lived and quietened a million what ifs<br />
I wanted to forget that face<br />
I wanted to unsee and unremember everything<br />
<br />
Recently i took my child<br />
with her grandparents<br />
to a temple<br />
<br />
It didn't feel traumatic, <br />
Enough time had passed,<br />
enough for a mute observer<br />
on Facebook pages<br />
not having to clean up and deal<br />
with the mess later<br />
not getting daily reminders<br />
of horrors from the past<br />
<br />
A new patch stitched over old clothes<br />
As fresh memories cover older ones<br />
into gentle oblivion<br />
<br />
accepting<br />
not negating, not normalising<br />
only, very selfishly<br />
finding my peace.<br />
<br />
16.12.2019</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Published in Cafe Dissensus Everyday blog in April 2020</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://cafedissensusblog.com/2020/04/07/three-poems-by-pooja-ugrani/</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Also published in The Kali Project: Invoking the Goddess Within / Indian Women’s Voices on 08/01/2021 by Indie Blu(e) publishers</span></div>
poojahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437929693374573249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-420005141798253987.post-61107570597355803962019-10-25T02:13:00.002-07:002021-02-19T13:50:35.990-08:00On having entered a room<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #313131; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 0.916667rem; height: auto; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; word-spacing: 1px;">
<span style="font-size: 0.916667rem;">On most days I </span><span style="font-size: 0.916667rem;">witness</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #313131; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 0.916667rem; height: auto; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; word-spacing: 1px;">
<span style="font-size: 0.916667rem;">seesaws of alternating identities</span><span style="font-size: 0.916667rem;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #313131; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 0.916667rem; height: auto; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; word-spacing: 1px;">
<span style="font-size: 0.916667rem;">as we hiccough through planned exchanges </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #313131; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 0.916667rem; height: auto; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; word-spacing: 1px;">
<span style="font-size: 0.916667rem;">and spontaneous spurts</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #313131; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 0.916667rem; height: auto; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; word-spacing: 1px;">
engaging in our own little play, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #313131; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 0.916667rem; height: auto; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; word-spacing: 1px;">
trying to sit still, <span style="font-size: 0.916667rem;">weightless in the centre, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #313131; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 0.916667rem; height: auto; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; word-spacing: 1px;">
<span style="font-size: 0.916667rem;">as if we do not matter</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #313131; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; height: auto; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; word-spacing: 1px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #313131; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 0.916667rem; height: auto; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; word-spacing: 1px;">
Today’<span style="font-size: 0.916667rem;">s different, somehow</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #313131; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 0.916667rem; height: auto; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; word-spacing: 1px;">
cracks laden with seeped pretension <span style="font-size: 0.916667rem;">threaten collapse,</span><span style="font-size: 0.916667rem;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #313131; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 0.916667rem; height: auto; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; word-spacing: 1px;">
realignments of agreed-upon definitions for this space,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #313131; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 0.916667rem; height: auto; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; word-spacing: 1px;">
as the sanctity of boundaries between relations </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #313131; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 0.916667rem; height: auto; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; word-spacing: 1px;">
that changed behind closed doors</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #313131; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 0.916667rem; height: auto; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; word-spacing: 1px;">
<span style="font-size: 0.916667rem;">is dragged into the public eye </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #313131; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; height: auto; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; word-spacing: 1px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #313131; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 0.916667rem; height: auto; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; word-spacing: 1px;">
With blaring earphones and eyes shut</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #313131; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 0.916667rem; height: auto; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; word-spacing: 1px;">
I no longer exist in this room</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #313131; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 0.916667rem; height: auto; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; word-spacing: 1px;">
now I am a cat that waits </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #313131; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 0.916667rem; height: auto; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; word-spacing: 1px;">
to jump out of balance, to <span style="font-size: 0.916667rem;">find myself </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #313131; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 0.916667rem; height: auto; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; word-spacing: 1px;">
<span style="font-size: 0.916667rem;">to make me whole</span><span style="font-size: 0.916667rem;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #313131; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 0.916667rem; height: auto; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; word-spacing: 1px;">
<span style="font-size: 0.916667rem;">to become manifold, timeless</span></div>
<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"></span><span class="im" style="color: #500050;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #313131; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 0.916667rem; height: auto; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; word-spacing: 1px;">
<br style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.6667px;" /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #313131; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 0.916667rem; height: auto; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; word-spacing: 1px;">
18.10.2019</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #313131; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 0.916667rem; height: auto; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; word-spacing: 1px;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #313131; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 0.916667rem; height: auto; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; word-spacing: 1px;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #313131; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 0.916667rem; height: auto; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; word-spacing: 1px;"><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Published in <span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: gblack, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 1px;">hākārā: a bilingual journal of creative expression, </span>Turbulence, Issue 12 in September 2020 </span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.hakara.in/pooja-ugrani/</span></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><br style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; word-spacing: 0px;" /></div></div>
</div>
poojahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437929693374573249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-420005141798253987.post-15003707939646388652019-05-14T22:05:00.005-07:002021-02-19T13:57:58.674-08:00I want to sing like you<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div dir="ltr">
To Vidhya Gopal<br />
I want to sing like you</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
I sing like the <br />
single running stitch <br />
of an unoiled tailoring machine, <br />
reaching, quite linearly <br />
from one point to another, <br />
amply wandering, uncontrolled <br />
outside the edges of <i>sur</i> in the songs i sing</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
You sing like the <br />
convoluted floral embroidery <br />
of a <i>kurta</i> worn proudly <br />
created by hands, weathered by <i>riyaaz</i>,<br />
making listeners lose themselves to <br />
the nuances your textured voice creates<br />
in snippets caught on Insta and Facebook</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
The completion of your song <br />
holds no relevance to me <br />
as the <i>safar</i> has become<br />
more <i>khoobsoorat</i> than the <i>manzil</i> <br />
and i enjoy your rendering of individual words<br />
as you nurture and embellish them <br />
with seemingly effortless <i>harqatein</i></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Your singing comes from a place of truth without pretentions. <br />
It has made me knock on the door <br />
of that room within me. </div>
<br /><br />
15.05.2019<br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">I have been following this girl for sometime now on Facebook and Instagram and my, how she inspires me! Total fan I have become!</span></i></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">Published in The Punch Magazine, the Byword on 14/12/2019</span></i></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">https://thepunchmagazine.com/the-byword/poetry/her-marred-maang-and-other-poems</span></i></div></div>
poojahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437929693374573249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-420005141798253987.post-77338162227564168942019-03-07T14:21:00.003-08:002021-02-19T13:57:27.003-08:00The ride home<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
6.45 pm on a Saturday, two bodies try to catch up<br />
with traffic swayings and omnipresent speedbreakers<br />
Our Maruti Alto negotiates its presence and passage<br />
with bikes, cows and vegetable carts<br />
<br />
A third body inverts itself between the two seats<br />
Legs up and hands groping air reaching towards a wheel that juts out of the car dikkie<br />
<br />
10 minutes of flailing in limbo<br />
My right shoulder bettered<br />
by an afternoon session<br />
at the physiotherapist groans<br />
<br />
A moment before I falter and let her jump<br />
for her prized wheel and crash,<br />
You park the car and jump out<br />
Plucking our bawling distraught child out of my arms<br />
<br />
In the car now drenched by a wave of silence<br />
Shuddering more out of exhaustion than anticipation<br />
I look out to see a vision radiating happiness<br />
Vismaya in her new red and black tricycle<br />
a fair distance away from the park.<br />
<br />
<br /><br /><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">Published in The Punch Magazine, the Byword on 14/12/2019</span></i></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">https://thepunchmagazine.com/the-byword/poetry/her-marred-maang-and-other-poems</span></i></div>
<br /></div>
poojahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437929693374573249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-420005141798253987.post-66630986345587257002018-09-06T15:04:00.003-07:002021-02-19T13:56:49.864-08:00Come now<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
come<br />
let's look out<br />
the same window<br />
<br />
see<br />
differently<br />
together<br />
<br />
lift tinted panes<br />
make real<br />
our lives<br />
<br />
don't pay heed<br />
to frequent reflections<br />
come now.<br />
<br />
<br />
let's find<br />
a window<br />
<br />
that cajoles<br />
to re arrange<br />
our insides<br />
<br />
as it shows<br />
the changing<br />
outside<br />
<br />
so we have<br />
only each other<br />
as constant</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">Published in The Punch Magazine, the Byword on 14/12/2019</span></i></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">https://thepunchmagazine.com/the-byword/poetry/her-marred-maang-and-other-poems</span></i></div></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div>
poojahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437929693374573249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-420005141798253987.post-4776333055974370212017-11-08T08:54:00.001-08:002021-02-19T13:56:14.590-08:00Architecture and motherhood <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">You feel like a design problem</span><br />
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I am working on, </span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">whose submission date </span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">is not yet fixed, </span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by indecisive studio professors </span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">who want us students </span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">to work, just a tad bit more.</span><br />
<div dir="auto">
<div dir="auto">
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">On nights before a pre-final,</span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">like a tracing full of ideas</span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">yet to be finalised, </span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">you have the power </span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">of lingering in my subconscious,</span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">making me jump out </span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">of intermittent sleep</span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Each night, to engage with you.</span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">No paper to draw on,</span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">you draw from me what is yours now.</span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">No name plate either;</span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">for your loved ones </span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">use sounds and words</span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">borrowed from seven languages</span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">whose alphabets cannot be lettered.</span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I wipe your eye secretions, </span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">tears and milk stains after a feed,</span></div>
</div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">and your face becomes</span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">a completed cartridge sheet;</span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">smudge free with a few guide lines.</span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Your few hair strands I comb </span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">so they settle paralelly</span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">like meticulous </span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">brick and stone hatches </span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">drafted within walls.</span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Every once in a while </span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I stick my ear to the floor </span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">to watch an exactly angled ray </span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">of sunlight works its magic </span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">on a sleeping you.</span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">A roughly 1:3 scaled model </span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">of who you may be </span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">in 20 years, </span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">stares back at me;</span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">your myriad expressions </span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">changing by the millisecond.</span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<div dir="auto">
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span face="sans-serif">Surprised, I</span><span face="sans-serif"> have </span></span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span face="sans-serif">an obscenely</span> satisfying thought </span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">that crosses my mind;</span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">did I just happen to create you?</span></div>
<div>
<br /><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">**Sleeplessness invokes poetry. Written for Chundo :)</span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i></div><div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">Published in The Punch Magazine, the Byword on 14/12/2019</span></i></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">https://thepunchmagazine.com/the-byword/poetry/her-marred-maang-and-other-poems</span></i></div></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
poojahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437929693374573249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-420005141798253987.post-54294675183986111732009-04-27T06:38:00.004-07:002021-02-19T13:54:48.534-08:00Marred maang<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Two flailing oiled <em>chotis</em><br />
slap me out of stupor.<br />
The Goddess arches out<br />
hinged at the pole,<br />
her saucer hands clasped<br />
below mine.<br />
<br />
A hooting call answered<br />
with crystal stare<br />
from wideapart eyes<br />
that grazes my shoulder,<br />
wounding me. Incoherent slang<br />
shot through with a nasal twang.<br />
<br />
A crisp line scarred<br />
by ghosts of stitches drawn<br />
on scalp with the edge of a comb<br />
down, down the valley<br />
of her marred <em>maang</em>.<br />
<br />
The milkmaid, having borne<br />
the consequences<br />
of an agitated udder,<br />
the warrior princess<br />
sporting the memento<br />
of unanticipated victory.<br />
<br />
An ecstatic partner<br />
with clammy palms, thrown<br />
off a <em>phugdi</em> rotation,<br />
<em>Devdas</em> marks <em>Paro </em><br />
with expressions of love<br />
garnished with glass shards.<br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">*** This happened one morning as I shared the foot board of a Mumbai local train with a most astonishing girl, standing in front of me. </span></i></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">Published in The Punch Magazine, the Byword on 14/12/2019</span></i></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">https://thepunchmagazine.com/the-byword/poetry/her-marred-maang-and-other-poems</span></i></div>
poojahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00437929693374573249noreply@blogger.com0