Vineetha Mekkoth, INDIA

MEN MATTER

They say a man is polygamous

He is drawn to the women he sees

Around him

Drawn to them in daily situations

Blame it all on his hormones

That tough guy testosterone.

They use it for all the reasons

Why they flirt

Why the roving eye.

Well guys, we are not so different.

We too size you up

Look at you and label you.

He's fat, his cheeks are rosy

He has a paunch

Why are his eyes watery!

That one's skinny

That chap looks good

But he should keep his mouth shut

Or all he spouts is some rubbish about

Women being dumb, to be fettered.

Well, the ones who know,

Avoid such guys like plague.

Who would want to be

In the company of such a blade!

We sort out the guys

Into the good, the bad and the ugly

Sometimes the good is bad

Sometimes the good, ugly

Sometimes the good is pleasing to the eye

Sometimes the good, distasteful to the mind

And your behaviour matters a lot, gentlemen

Into which box you are slotted

How and where and when.

If your head and heart are empty

All your swagger is trashed.

Only a man with empathy

Oodles of kindness

Tender and loving

Is loved in return.

So, there are men.

And then there are jerks.

To the latter,

Go take a walk.

REASON

Why, I wonder, should I worry

If women do not enter that shrine

Or do?

But I do worry about discrimination

In the name of religion

I think about all this

Because I'm a woman.

Maybe if I were a man

I would be less bothered

I would have had unquestioned privileges.

I'm on my own journey

I search for answers

I read, I listen

I accept only that which is logical

That which appeals to reason

I cannot accept every belief

Because they have been believed in

By so many, over so many centuries

My Whys, Whats, Whens

Have to be satiated

I do not drink because everyone does

I drink if and when I need it

That holds true for the hillock shrine

That holds true for love

That holds true for everything

AMAZON

Like a snake sloughing

Off dead skin, she walked past the hushed whispers,

The knowing glances of those who molested her daily with their words,

Their imagination, as they cast stones

At her will to live, to not die in the face

Of the multitudes of lies and gossip,

Shocked at her zest for life when they

Craved for her very death.

The least,

She should have shed tears.

For the world loves a tragedy and it's easier to live with

Than any Amazon battling and surviving scarred

Vineetha Mekkoth, a poet, writer, translator, editor, works as Assistant State Tax Officer in the State GST Department. Has been translating for the Kerala Sahitya Akademi since 2014 and has also contributed articles for the Malayalam Literary Survey, a quarterly published by the Akademi. Her poems have been included in various anthologies. She has been selected for the ICOP Critics Award for March 2015. Her poem was on the list of Highly Commended poems for the months of March and October 2015 and selected as the ‘Poem of the Month’ for April 2015 by Destiny Poets, UK. Her work has also been featured in Duane’s Poetree, Learning and Creativity and Mad Swirl Magazine. She was the co-editor and a participating poet of the anthology ‘Umbilical Chords: An Anthology on Parents Remembered’ (2015). Her short stories have been published online as well as in the collection.

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Women, Power & Creativity :: Setu, March 2019