(Muana has specific meaning in the context. Muana refers to the ‘place of origin’. In this poem, Muana is trying to locate herself in the society after accepting that she was a lesbian. It is where she finds her real self and tries to endure the pain of being sabotaged by the societal stigma and stereotypes).
She walked in the mist,
her feet still felt dry.
The anchor seemed to have lost the ground,
meandering in the locus of vacuum around.
Questioning her feelings,
she asked if she liked ‘her’.
Taken aback by the Reality,
It struck her hard.
dismissive and irked, she questioned herself,
‘Was it something she should be ashamed of?’
Sitting against the wall…
enticement sensed like some venom rushing through her veins,
It was the spiked heart, she divulged….
Her best friend held her hand sheath like.
Muana came out true to her,
A caution board raised between them ‘keeping this their little secret’,
and she accepted her with open arms.
Muana sat upright,
aghast with the atrocity of the irked society,
is the gentry to coax the societal orientation?
‘Was embracing her touch something to be ashamed of?’
Stifled by agony
The caged tiger roared in affliction,
it still went unheard….
In the screams, there was still some silence,
In the hustle and bustle, there was still hollowness.
The perversity of the gentry had become apparent
The volcano erupted, but only to harm itself.
Exasperated by holding her feelings inside,
It broke the shackles of the caged bird.
Unearthing the feelings,
She whined like a frail bird in the dark.
Her feelings were subjected to the vices of west,
She understood that, she had to explain no one,
Not anymore, to set the volume of water in a vase.
Never undermined from moving ahead,
Hit and hurt by the whirlpool,
The fragile bird decided to fly through the storm.
Alongside the storm, the birds turned away,
But it knew the sense of freedom and couldn’t turn back to the cage.
The journey was long,
But it had finally reached the zenith.
Injured and devastated,
it still felt fulfilled.
The IDENTITY was not marred by the societal norms,
She did not have to define
‘WHO AM I’……
[This post has been contributed by Rishika Jain, law student at Jindal Global Law School.]
Feature Image: Gender Matters? Team. They can be found at https://www.facebook.com/gendermattersjgu/.