A women-centric protest poem, by Dr. Roopali, exclusively for Different Truths.
If you cut off a woman’s tongue like they did the other day in that dusty dirty town of Hathras in India then at the dead of night you must incinerate whatever remains of her. Her broken spine, her lacerated vagina and her mutilated soul. In another age Greek King Tereus of Thrace also, could not contain his lust and ravished and violated Philomela she won’t be silent she had said so, with pincers he held her tongue and with a sharp sword he cut off her tongue. Philomela’s anguish did not hold back her story her aching fingers wove an intricate tapestry unfolding a tale with images telling Just like poets tell our stories. A stunned avenging sister Procne cooked and served in an ornate dish a depraved dinner fit for a King their only son Ity’s flesh a father and a rapist husband King Tereus of Thrace. The head paraded for proof silenced forever the raging perpetrator. The voiceless nightingale granted a voice to lament Philomela’s sorrow. Will the many gods of our people let us write our legends? can we tell our tales? How else will the soulful chronicles be told of Antiope, Hera, Europa and Leda Medusa, Draupadi and Sita, Hannah, Regina, Jyoti and Shaheena all ravaged, mutilated and morphed by Zeus, Poseidon, Duryodhana and Ravana Jean clad Sandeep, Herbert Mike and Mirza. Must we then like Procne avenge feed the flesh of sons to fathers.
Visual by Different Truths
Dr. Roopali Sircar Gaur is a poet, travel writer, and social justice activist. A former professor of English Literature at Delhi University, and a creative writing professor at IGNOU, she is a widely published academic and creative writer. Her book Twice Colonised: Women in African Literature, is a seminal text on women’s socio-political empowerment. In 2020-21, she co-edited two poetry anthologies – In All the Spaces: Diverse Voices in Global Women’s Poetry, and Earth Fire Water Wind.
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What a magnificent write with reference to the mythological characters relating the current scenario. Hats off ma’am