"Hey, feminazi! What's your game?
Both sexes have it almost the same!”
Both sexes have it almost the same!”
He drops her. Then picks her too.
Even when she doesn’t have a flu.
“Bhai, please don’t be a glue!”
Now he dates another
With a brother; just like him.
Chances of a kiss are slim. So he
drives away through lanes of grim.
Unaware how his sister must feel
while moving as per his whim.
“Hey, feminazi! Where’s your shame?
He loves you, yet that you disclaim!”
Meanwhile, In another house,
Mother of a girl without a brother says,
“Don’t go alone, take that guy along!”
“Are you with him? Call me from his sim.”
“Will he Protect? Is he a Threat?”
After all, the world’s not perfect.
But had I been a boy, would she still fret?
“Hey, feminazi! Look, what you became?
Now it’s your mother who you defame!”
Father, I don’t hate you,
For trying to control my fate.
But it’s my life and it’s been late.
Let me choose my own mate!
Why are we even having this debate?
Alas, it’s a checkmate.
Call it lust if you must.
Call it sin to get under my skin.
I know it will hurt your pride
But Sorry,
I am no longer an ideal, virgin bride.
Please don’t make me run or hide.
I beg you, come to my side.
“Hey, feminazi! Who’ll you now maim?
After setting your entire family aflame!”
Shame me for my sexual desires.
Blame me for not giving you a son.
And then call it 'almost the same'.
I am not an animal you must tame.
Or a property, you could claim.
Blame me for not giving you a son.
And then call it 'almost the same'.
I am not an animal you must tame.
Or a property, you could claim.
Do you still wonder what's my game?
That’s right!
I want to break your patriarchal frame.
(Theme: Politics, Form: Free Verse)
I want to break your patriarchal frame.
(Theme: Politics, Form: Free Verse)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis is an amazing poem... I can totally connect to it. I especially like the italicized lines which denote the rest of the patriarchal world, it was cleverly done. I just did not get the rhyme scheme( if there is one). But i really loved it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Uttara! :)
DeleteThere was no rhyme scheme as such but I have tried to play with internal rhymes.
Forgot to mention that the dialogues were meant to have end rhymes and a refrain to underline the prevalence of these ideas.
DeleteIntense... I guess we're waiting for the day when poetry like this becomes no more than a remote memory of an oppressive past. The use of italics is interesting, but I wonder why you have used the reference of the 'feminazi' while writing about this issue. Is it not an issue that every woman faces? Or are we trying to justify a behaviour pattern and belief system in this poem?
ReplyDeleteThe italics represent what the people deeply rooted in patriarchal society have to say. Though every woman faces this, but those who complain or argue about it are usually labelled as 'feminazi' and hence only the italics use it repetitively.
DeleteSince it is a longer form, I like the fact that you have used the lines “Hey, feminazi!.... you defame!” at regular intervals, which have helped the feelings invoked from the first line of the poem till the end.
ReplyDeleteThanks Apoorv! This is very reassuring because I was scared that these lines break the flow of the poem and might not be taken in well by the reader :)
DeleteThanks Tanmaya, I will try to rework this. But this was the free verse version itself :D So, I guess I will try to loose the rhyme.
ReplyDelete