Women Poetry: Hema Ravi, INDIA

Exclusive: Women Poetry: Edited by Padmaja Iyengar-Paddy

Hema Ravi

MEDUSA - YOU’RE FREE SPIRITED…

Poison ivy amongst shrubs? Oh, dear Medusa,

Deadly drop of your blood does cure, dear Medusa.

Be free-swimming, use your tentacles when needed

When a parasite enters, be warned, Medussa!

Sting, if necessary, do not retract in fear

Your virginity is your treasure, Medusa.

Every lock of your hair is priceless, guard it well

Let them not change into coiled serpents, Medusa!

Raging storms could be brewing within volcanoes

of hate; look out for signs of unrest, Medusa!

You’ll thrive in a bastion of chauvinism

Separate the wheat from the chaff, dear Medusa!

You’re a free-spirited woman, dear Medusa

No one can lay your soul to rest, dear Medusa!

***

BEAUTY - WOMAN’S FOLLY???

She spurned all his lecherous advances,

refused to marry him, be his wife,

resultant victim of circumstances

as acid-burn survivor, scarred for life!

In pain and anguish, utterly helpless,

She attempts to get up from the debris.

Onlookers shrink back utterly mindless,

while the wrong-doer marches on scot-free.

Her loathsome face, now a Medusa’s head

If only her glance could change him to stone!

And teach him a lesson with words unsaid,

her dignity had been ripped to the bone!

When her body and mind get crushed in dust,

hasn’t she a way to save her honour,

Who will speak for her, for the crime unjust?

Should such a curse promptly come upon her?

***

Hema Ravi, freelance trainer for IELTS and Communicative English, is a poet, author, reviewer, independent researcher, event organizer and editor of Efflorescence (published by the Chennai Poets’ Circle).  Her verses and write ups have been featured in several online and international print journals, noteworthy among them being the International Writers Journal (USA), Amaravati Poetic Prism (CCVA, Vijayawda), Culture and Quest (of the ISISAR, Kolkata), and the Pittsburgh-based Setu Bilingual e-zine. She is among the 'Distinguished Writers 2021,' having secured the ninth place in the 7th Bharat Award for Literature International Short Story Contest.  As Secretary of the Chennai Poets’ Circle, she empowers amateur writers to unleash their creativity.

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The Myth of Medusa Deconstructed :: Setu, March 2021