Poems by Baby Shaw

 

The Third perspective 

 

My grandmother could read 

the Mahabharata and Ramayana

 

She would proudly say, perhaps that's why 

she was chosen as a bride

I don't know, but as a girl and a woman, 

my grandmother would skip

Talking about household chores, 

and instead, talk about Brihannala

 

My aunt, my father's sister, 

wouldn't sleep without hearing

The story of my ancestor, 

the one with the eyebrows like a bow

The strict and harsh grandfather's eyes 

would burn like a tiger's

In the dark of night,

reducing Chitrangada's attire to ashes

 

The burnt kingdom, the adoption

 tradition accepted as truth

Led to the grandfather being seated on the throne.

 

 

Sylvia Plath 

 

Even after dreaming of a uncompromising earth, I dream of going to the moon

Science told me that the beautiful and coveted moon

Has another side, black, with vast and enormous craters

Mouths agape, waiting for us in our deep gardens

Are there even bigger moon craters?!

 

Since I've come to know that women's wombs are mysterious craters

And I've understood the moon to be a beautiful young woman

Duty-bound and perplexed, I recall the moon's body

Meaning the dense darkness, a beautiful young woman

 

Whom the state has branded as tainted and paraded on public roads...

 

*********