I am a woman
Pricked by thorny remarks
on my girlhood, staining
my innocence with spite
Stung by the bite of leather
on my skin, trying to whip me
into submission
Choked by dreams imprisoned
in the kitchen’s stifling heat,
gasping for freedom
Disfigured by acidic attacks
seeking to silence my voice
which rises above his
And you call me dented,
like a car’s fender, when
I’m scarred all the way through?
I am a woman
Daubing myself
in the black and white
do’s and don’ts, prescribed at birth
Smearing my face
with the blues
of monotonous obedience
Drowning
in the earthy brown
of a mother’s warmth
Changing my makeup
and switching roles
faster than the best of all divas
And you call me painted –
a hasty cover-up job – when
I am a mask, down to my very core?
Pricked by thorny remarks
on my girlhood, staining
my innocence with spite
Stung by the bite of leather
on my skin, trying to whip me
into submission
Choked by dreams imprisoned
in the kitchen’s stifling heat,
gasping for freedom
Disfigured by acidic attacks
seeking to silence my voice
which rises above his
And you call me dented,
like a car’s fender, when
I’m scarred all the way through?
I am a woman
Daubing myself
in the black and white
do’s and don’ts, prescribed at birth
Smearing my face
with the blues
of monotonous obedience
Drowning
in the earthy brown
of a mother’s warmth
Changing my makeup
and switching roles
faster than the best of all divas
And you call me painted –
a hasty cover-up job – when
I am a mask, down to my very core?
If the Delhi rape incident revealed anything, it's that many of the people our so-called representatives, are themselves sexist pigs who can't (won't?) do anything to end the vicious cycle of male chauvinism and supremacy. My reply to one among the spate of callous remarks, courtesy Abhijeet Mukherjee (Prez Pranab's son), who commented that the women who protested at Delhi were 'dented and painted.'
