Dry Cheeks
February 10, 2007 | Filed Under Poetry, Travel
what have I lost?
what have I gained?
i washed my soul, mamma,
when the other day it rained.
i wanted to cry
but the desert was dry,
way too dry for any leaf to grow,
but the thorns didn’t prick
and the sun didn’t wane.
Kismat is a devilish woman,
she sometimes comes and seduces the man,
and he leaves his virgin bride, mamma,
leaves her but takes her pleasures away.
mamma, the other day,
a beggar woman was asking for alms,
she asked not for money, not for food,
she asked for medicines, mamma,
her child was suffering from tubercolosis,
i gave her medicines,
i did right, mamma, didn’t I?
i have lost something in the desert, mamma,
I need to go back again….
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6 Responses to “Dry Cheeks”
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find it interesting that the entire poem is in ‘i’ except the devilish woman and virgin bride stanza.
interesting potrayal of women in your poem -
patient mother
devilish seducer
virgin bride
beggar woman – begging for her child’s life.
tho i can see, you are picking sterotypes and using them more as metaphor than as anything else, dont you think it was possible to come up with more original metaphors? hindi movies have tire themselves showing woman in these 4 types – look at the actor and you know which of the 4 she is going to be – so much so that i think some people simply disagree if you say – no a seducer is not always devilish.
anyway, it is your poem and i am just saying.
dear N, thank you for the comment. will try to keep in mind. just that when one sees these stereotypes so closely, one can’t help but write about them.
‘Mother’ By Pink Floyd
!!! Was that playing in the back of yer mind???
Nice it was
Dont get me wrong, but there is more to those women than the stereotypes you see. stereotypes are by definition molds. When you have started seeing someone as a stereotype, you refuse to see anything in them that is outside the mold. We as a society have a lot of stereotypes.
if you find anyone who suffered because he is expected to be heterosexual or expected to wonderful at maths and not arts – you know how horrible it is to be labeled someone you are not. Or to know that there are certain options that you cannot get, because that would be breaking the stereotype. We never realise when we go too far with ideas, when they become so ingrained that our entire view is colored.
I am really glad that you took my comment so positively.
dear n, i think i should re-phrase myself. stereo-types was not a very good word to use in the comment i put up.
well, i wasn’t generalizing, i was talking about few people. they probably seemed like stereotypes.
as a person, stereotypes don’t really exist for me. every one is different and comes from a unique situation.
though the postmodern school of thought does not realize that ignoring certain realities does not dissolve them.