Maybe he
wasn´t wrong, after all. Ironic.
Given recent
contentions to the contrary.
He wasn´t
wrong – just prescient – in
The beach-hazed
heat-crazed brain-dazed
Histrionic
fit of killing some nameless
Faceless
voiceless person and then
Killing him
again and again and
Again and
again because here we
Are. Lifeless.
Graceless. Why
Do we not
weep, how do we not
Cry for our
mothers even as they are
Buried under
rubble falling glass
Shattered stars
bits of moon chipped
Off as
Artemis flies past. Maybe
He was
right, just not strong enough
To tell us
to our faces. That we are strangers
To each
other. Bare headed, evicted,
Cast out. What
peace what place
Will accept
us now that we have
Splintered every
home. Outsiders.
Alone.
" What peace what place / Will accept us now that we have /
ReplyDeleteSplintered every home." This is so powerful, Giti. I would end the poem right there, but what you have here also works.
I will give it a think, thanks Bhaswati. I put ´the outsider´in there partly because of the theme but also because it is the other title of the book The Stranger. Maybe that´s too hamfisted, its true.
DeleteSuch a powerful poem...
ReplyDeleteThank you for this, Giti
<3
DeleteThis is so powerful, Giti. And an honest look at what we are now - lifeless, graceless, and splintering homes. And weep we must, at the powerlessness over what happens again and again.
ReplyDeleteI felt this in Camus´ story, Geethanjali - how he shoots a dead man four times. Seemed such an image of our times.
DeleteWow!!! I would love to recite this! Of course I agree with the others about how powerful it is.
ReplyDeleteI also liked how you drop the word "stranger" towards the end, because it served as a hint for someone like me who didn't get the allusion of the "beach-hazed heat-crazed brain-dazed fit of killing someone faceless" in the first round.
My goodness it would be such an honour if you would recite it! Please do and share it with me - I am a terrible reader of my own poetry. And yay for the recognition :D I wonder if adding ´the outsider´ at the end was too much.
ReplyDelete