Jaise meri naritav dekhti hai (As my womanhood sees)
Ten monokus
i.
Ran, ran, sprinted, cried, heaved, sighed, rose, fell, rose,
laughed, rested. Spilt milk spilt well.
ii.
I’m pure, soft Pashmina, maybe too snug, too
perdurable, for some.
iii.
Uncomplicated motherhood; a blessing in my tummy &
beyond.
iv.
Romances have been like Kho-Kho, zig zagging around
them and me.
v.
I question my hot iron choices sometimes my choices question
me.
vi.
Am not anyone's cling nor saran wrap. Linen
genes. Breathable.
vii.
"Aliens" mulled. Them-her-history...loose jigsaw
puzzles. Fiction, truth, tween.
viii.
Leave em "exotics-wilds" alone. Catching,
displaying, eating. Souls watch.
ix
Birth to death, roles roll off tongues neath Peepal
trees. Holy & unholy.
x.
Round, up, down, round, turn, back again. Human narcissism.
Like Jalebi.
*Pashmina is a careful, time-consuming art of weaving the finest lamb’s wool
*Kho-Kho is a traditional game in India
*Cling and Saran are types of material in which leftovers are wrapped
*Peepal is a huge evergreen tree native to India, leaves of which are considered to have healing elements
*Jalebi: A deep friend dessert in India that is made in a twisted form
Chupa-Chupi or Chup
(Hide and seek or quiet)
Five monokus
i.
My silence is a song
I hear again & again in my head. Can’t mouth.
ii.
My silence is
liquescent of all oceans, spaces, blankness. Can't mouth.
iii
My silence is bad
karma from past lives that loves me too much. Can't mouth.
iv.
My silence is a child
in your arms. You pretend-swayed, dropped me. Can’t mouth.
v.
Chupa-Chupi,
childhood game life wants to play forever. Chup. Can't mouth.
*Chup is a Hindi word which means to be quiet
Achut (untouchability) is an attitude
Five monokus
i.
Your attitude, words, actions, are achut. Clean water
shrugs, looks askance.
ii.
No easy seasoning-swallowing your achut ways. Stuck.
Cough. Stuck. Choke.
iii.
Achut
are no.11 wrinkles above your knotted brows you tried to Botox.
iv.
Covid bulldozed, leveled non and believers. All achut now.
Or none.
v.
Armrest of armchair supporters threadbare. Achutpan
mind-sets be set.
*Achutpan: Untouchability
*The two lines of wrinkles between brows are called no.11 in popular parlance
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