Dr Molly’s poem deals with human-made certitudes, weeping willows, and gendered yokes: a lament and rebellion against the taken-for-granted, hierarchical order, exclusively for Different Truths.

caught up
             in the 
certitudes 
            set up
by man
  with stooping 
             boughs 
willows  
  weep, wait... 
 
drip, drip! 
       teardrops 
fall on the 
     misty mundane 
          shrouds 
that envelop
           all...       
 
taken for grantedness!

 it was always 
           already 
there from beginning...
 
     gender,
male, female 
         all binaries
hierarchical
that set up
                   walls 
privileging 
                   on
over the 
             other...
 
Sex and 
            semen
mattered...
 
women 
     who crave 
for a fond 
       look, care
  space, time, 
 togetherness
       taken for 
granted...
     She to fulfil 
duties,
       be it as a
  housewife, working   
               woman, 
being 
         squeezed
                into 
sex objects 
            in weary 
nights that
       need rest.. 
or 
  doll like
     showcased 
        in parties,
pubs...
 
willow weep...
 
whither
       has disappeared
    tender care?
are you ok
         kind of word,
     looking into 
the very eyes?
 
Willows weep.
 
hearken!
apart from 
           weeping 
stooping 
willows  
       there arise
rebellious
         ebullient 
young, resilient 
             ones
who strut,
      stamp their
feet, defying
             gender
yokes! 
flouting all,   
         seeking  
the similar...
the way
     challenging 
natural order... 

yet, the 
            average 
still stoop
          and suffer
the willows
weep....

Picture by the poet

Dr. Molly Joseph

Dr Molly Joseph, a bilingual professor and poet from Kerala, has published 26 books, including 18 poems, two novels, and two storybooks for children. She has edited "A Handbook of Contemporary Ethics" and works for values, global peace, and togetherness. Dr Joseph has won national and international accolades and represents India at SAARC and FOSWAL literature meets. She believes in the power of the word and writes boldly on contemporary matters.

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