Identities
Untagged
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Stubborn
she insisted,
‘I will not
name my poems’.
No baggage to
tie them down.
Let them fly
or dawn or disappear
under their own
weight.
Free to be this, that,
whatever else
or even nothing at all,
in the intimate space
they inhabit,
with every one
they meet
afresh,
each time.
Like them,
if we too could
erase the labels
donned,
brands seared,
peel off each
layer of outer identity,
roles, history,
guilts, accolades -
acquired, attired
armoured,
affixed…
Remain unmarked,
untagged, unshackled,
pristine,
then
each of our encounters
may be a
new beginning,
with infinite possibilities
shaped only by
the aura
of that very
moment.
A dewdrop
mid-air.
Wiped Out
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Apparently,
news about certain
birds forgetting
their own song,
is causing flutters.
Did those notes
knot up into
a tight pill
and get swallowed,
whole?
Or melt, bit by bit
like a tangy
candy, leaving behind
just a sweet stain?
If their music
was inscribed,
an innate genetic
code - inseparable
from its very breath.
how is it
that they are now
mimicking other birds
in their landscape,
embracing
new vocals as their own?
Whatever is
'own song' – anyway.
Another learnt
harmony, from
long ago,
its origin,
dried out on the way
beyond horizon.
Will there be
a time when
all music
is either appropriated
or synthesised,
all melodies merely
borrowed, absorbed
tunes,
adapting to the
new terrains we inhabit?
Those may seem
more real than
the original,
as, along with them,
we transform a bit
with each new
twist
in the tail,
with none
left standing
to call out the difference.
Kavita Ratna is a children's rights activist, poet and a theatre enthusiast. ‘Sea Glass’ is her anthology of poems published by Red River. Her poems have appeared in The Kali Project: Invoking the Goddess within, A little book of serendipity, Triveni Hakai India, Haiku in Action, the Scarlet Dragonfly, the Cold Moon Journal, Five Fleas Itchy poetry, Stardust Haiku and Parcham.