When will you be home?

 

You haven’t come home, the street’s got emptier.

A car whooshes past, an ambulance somewhere

pierces the dark. The clouds overhead clear

but the remnants of rain still drip on the stairs.

I’m on the balcony. I’m on the phone.

Where are you my girl, in this night alone?

 

I’ve taught you a few things early, much before

I’d wanted to. Hands, touch, violence, abuse.

Bliss was not an option. Every day’s a war –

girls have to grow up fast. We cannot choose.

I’m at the doorway. And still on the phone.

Where are you sweetie, in this wide danger zone?   

 

I’ve taught you to dream. But I’ve been circumspect.

Only hoped that you’d be safe on the streets,

that you’d be given some basic respect.

We dream small, where red lines and limits meet.

I’m out on the lane. Please pick up your phone!

Where are you, daughter and when will you be home?

News of the Kolkata rape and murder of a post grad trainee doctor on 9th August has been reported in the international media,  you might have seen it and therefore can surmise the reason for the poem above. 

Widespread protests have erupted across India this time, people are marching in their thousands calling for justice for the doctor and for women's safety. It's distressing, outrageous, preposterous that women face this level of violence but it's also heartening to see the solidarity. I'm hopeful still. 

Kolkata used to be a safe city for women, it's still regularly voted as the safest in India. However, the sad truth is that India has become progressively unsafe for women over the last 20 years. The reasons are many layered and complex, but what is not in question is that we require a seismic societal shift if things are to change. Making the laws more stringent can only achieve results if they are implemented rigorously, that is where the system is failing. And it is failing deliberately - because there is political patronage of criminals, an enabling of violence against women across the board and across party lines. That needs to stop immediately if the rape culture is to change. 

Hoping for that change soon, for speedy justice for every case of abuse/rape and in the R.G. Kar Hospital case in particular.   

Wishing all women a crime free, disrespect free and stress free environment at every corner of world. May we get to see the dream of an equal and just world realised in our lifetime. Thank you for reading.

August evening

 

Image credit : Pixabay

The street lights, for some reason, aren’t on today

and in the dark, even rain comes on tiptoes

the traffic’s still gridlocked beneath the windows 

but it’s quieter, because light has got a way

to amplify sound. One streetful of darkness

has dialled down urban angst and calmed the restless.

 

The balcony here  wears no trellised shadows

no umbras, penumbras of leaves filigreed

against the walls – those arabesque patterns need

a strong light, a municipal lamp that glows

at railing height. No one’s willing to disturb

this chiffon silence, the cars crawl past the kerb.

 

The streetlights  haven’t been switched on this evening

a minor malfunction, human or machine

a sensor perhaps that hasn’t signalled green.

Some epiphanies only darkness brings,

that light fails to show. A small error has led

to a darkened lane, cars going past muted.

I've been reading more than I've been writing  - old favourites in poetry, where even if the eyes get a bit blurry, the lines are known so one can do without crystal clear anything, recognise the words from their shapes on the page anyway. 

Edna St Vincent Millay, Emily Dickinson, Auden, Neruda, Yeats -  the all time smash hits. Mary Oliver and Maya Angelou, of course. Some Mahmoud Darwish, top of mind right now because of the conflict. 

Some children's poetry as well, Eletelephony is guaranteed to cheer me up every time. I love Escape at Bedtime and this one of Shel Silverstein too. Escape from the doom and gloom in the blink of an eye. What is your favourite children's poem? Do you have any favourites? What do you read when you get exhausted with the headlines?