by Seema Jayaraman
Lapping the deep waters
Of Indian Poetry
from the shores, I'm too scared
To venture further
The stalwarts, the stars
Twinkling loftily, they terrify
Armed with even larger and sharper
Killer tools, complicated grammar
Sharpened arsenal of words
From an alien language
Circling in large schools
In dark interconnected waters..
I fear their power to team
To strike the unwary novice
I do not dare let go the anchor
Of shallow shores
I'm willing to forsake
The thrill of riding
Crashing waves of discovery
Cause I see shadows and fear
At times the pointed fin
Of a great white veteran
Circling out there to tear me
And mince me to pieces
With killer reviews and blurbs
Let me be - the shadow
Who am - I
Shuffling in glass walled corridors
Mostly with downcast eyes
And if eyes do meet
I've learnt to quickly demure
I don't have a pretty face,
No Indian rebel appearances,
No lush dark cascading curly mane
To toss around in disdain
For the lesser erudite folks
No large bindis on my forehead
Making a visible statement
No khol lined eyes saucily
Promising reincarnated dreams,
No soft linen yards draped around
Exposed curvaceously sashaying Waist
Advertising boldly their elite Indian-ess
Mostly I'm just a plain Jane
Garbed in non descriptive Indian gown
Working hard to blend at best
with the grey glass walls or at worst
Like a yes man minus a thinking cap
Gasping on the mundane sans makeup
Covered in cotton comforts
No curves no drools no lisps exposed
No ah I told you so
In YouTube acquired foreign accents
Ah no sashaying,
No luscious ruby lips
To lull you while reading stark verdicts
I've no right to pretend and
Stake a claim that I write poems
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ABOUT THE POET ~
Seema K. Jayaraman is an upcoming poetess based out of Mumbai, India tracing her roots to the mystical lands of ‘Naura’ (Cannanore District in Kerala, also known as the crown of God’s Own Country). She is a mother of two young boys and a full time working professional in the IT Banking domain, juggling multiple roles and demands of life. She re-embarked on her poetry in September 2015 on viewing the image of a little boy washed up ashore the Aegean Sea – a victim of the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis. Her poem “A Father’s Grief” was penned in anguished protest, after a hiatus of nearly two decades. She believes the poem was auto dictated from divine realms conveying the universal loss and hopefully to bring an end to this kind of sadness., She writes unconstrained, experimenting with both free style and rhyme based verses. She also enjoys writing Haiku and Tanka. Her debut book “Wings of Rhapsody – A Dalliance Of Poems” was released in June 2016 and is available on leading retail sites including Amazon. Her poems have also appeared in a few anthologies and also on YouTube and various private FM channels (RedShift FM Radio - UK.
Last updated September 20, 2016