Dr. Sridevi Selvaraj, INDIA

Exclusive: Best of Women Poetry: Edited by Padmaja Iyengar-Paddy
BOTH THE WORLDS

The fort was strong
Built with iron
Decorated with arrows
Entry was restricted.

The flower bloomed
Unseen, unsung
She smiled and smiled
Cried in private.

I need to walk
To jump up
To touch the clouds
To smell the ocean.

The stars spoke
The wind agreed
The grass understood
‘She needs a break.’

The iron fort
Was only conceptual
The bronze doors
Were only ideologies.

She rewrote them
Made them flexible
Walked when necessary
Stayed in when needed.


Dr. Sridevi Selvaraj is an English teacher in a college under the University of Madras. She writes in Tamil and English.  Her poetry collections in Tamil are: Aduppadi Kavithaigal (Poems from the Kitchen) 2009; Naan Sivam (I am Shiva) 2012; Pennin Paarvaiyil (In the eyes of a Woman) 2013; Penn Enum Perunthee (The Great Fire called Woman) 2016.  Her poetry collections in English are: Reservations: Rambling Thoughts (2010) and Heralds of Change (2016).  She has also translated the Tamil classic Thirukural’s Part I ‘Akam’ as ‘Values’ into English (2010).

Best of Women Poetry -2020 :: Setu, March 2020

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