Original Poetry — ‘Plural’ by Pooja Garg Singh

मुंबई मेरी जान. अब दिल्ली दूर नहीं

इन्ही शब्दों पर सवार आते हो क्या तुम
ढूँढते हो मुझे भोंकने के लिए

कहते हैं ये sex नहीं power play है
क्या इसीलिए युद्ध का मैदान भी तुम्ही चुनते हो
और योद्धा भी तुम

क्या इस संकरे रास्ते पर जीत
देती है तुम्हें जीने का नया मोड़

क्या इसीलिए जब देखती हूँ तुम्हें ऊपर
पाती हूँ तुम्हें शस्त्रहीन
एक hormone और ज़िन्दगी से हारा हुआ तिपाया
और याद करती हूँ
एक शिखण्डी, एक महाभारत, एक मैं

और दस तुम

Plural

‘Will we have a gang rape map soon ?’

Mumbai meri jaan. Ab Dilli door nahin.*
Do you come riding these words, searching me
To plow

They say this is not sex but power play
Is that why you choose the battle-field when
You are the warrior too

And does victory on this narrow lane
Give you a new high on life’s freeway

Is that why when I see you on top
I find you defused, a three-legged

Animal lost to hormones and life

And then I remember
One Shikhandi, One Mahabharat, One Me

And Ten of You.

* Mumbai my love, now Delhi isn’t very far.

The poem “Plural” was originally written in Hindi and then rewritten in English. It is a reaction to the gang rape in Mumbai recently, and part of an ongoing series of poems on rape written in the aftermath of a gang rape in New Delhi in December 2012. Each of them charts the movement as it escalated on the streets of New Delhi, from immediate anguish to public demands and candle-lit marches. Read the rest of the series at The Feminist Wire.

Pooja Garg Singh is a Denver-based ex-business journalist interested in feminist issues. She runs a content company, Wordtree, and writes poetry. She is in the midst of planning a women’s magazine and can be reached at poojagsingh@gmail.com.