[804] The Looking Glass

Guest poem submitted by Vidur, <vidur_b@>:

Getting a man to love you is easy
Only be honest about your wants as
Woman. Stand nude before the glass with him
So that he sees himself the stronger one
And believes it so, and you so much more
Softer, younger, lovelier. Admit your
Admiration. Notice the perfection
Of his limbs, his eyes reddening under
The shower, the shy walk across the bathroom floor,
Dropping towels, and the jerky way he
Urinates. All the fond details that make
Him male and your only man. Gift him all,
Gift him what makes you woman, the scent of
Long hair, the musk of sweat between the breasts,
The warm shock of menstrual blood, and all your
Endless female hungers. Oh yes, getting
A man to love is easy, but living
Without him afterwards may have to be
Faced. A living without life when you move
Around, meeting strangers, with your eyes that
Gave up their search, with ears that hear only
His last voice calling out your name and your
Body which once under his touch had gleamed
Like burnished brass, now drab and destitute.

	-- Kamala Das

I noticed that you've run a couple of poems by Eunice De Souza but none by
the other excellent contemporary Indian woman poet, Kamala Das. This is by
far my favourite Kamala Das poem. I'm not terribly good with analyses, but
I'll try to express what I like about the poem.

Kamala Das, like all good poets, displays excellent control over her words.
There's a quiet strength in her verse. And unabashed candour. For instance,
I like the way in which she describes human (male) quirks as defining
intimacy in a relationship. Even though on the surface the poem appears to
encourage submissiveness, it's really about being in control (even with the
melancholic end). This underlying message comes through clearly in the lines
"... so that he sees himself the stronger one / And believes it so" (i.e.,
let him believe what pleases him) and "Gift him ... all your / Endless
female hungers" (the paradox in "gift" and "your hungers" is particularly
good: satisfy *your* needs, it says, and use the essence of being a woman to
do so).

A brief bio of the poet can be found here:
http://www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/Bahri/Das.html

Vidur.

[Minstrels Links]

Other contemporary Indian poets writing in English include

Eunice de Souza:
Poem #603, "Marriages are Made
Poem #682, "Advice to Women

A. K. Ramanujan:
Poem #382, "A River"
Poem #434, "Extended Family"

Nissim Ezekiel:
Poem #516, "The Patriot"
Poem #579, "The Professor"
Poem #714, "Night of the Scorpion"

Vikram Seth:
Poem #650, "All You Who Sleep Tonight"
Poem #754, "Protocols"
Poem #460, "Round and Round"

From: Suresh Ramasubramanian <suresh@>

> I noticed that you've run a couple of poems by Eunice De Souza but none by
> the other excellent contemporary Indian woman poet, Kamala Das. This is by
> far my favourite Kamala Das poem. I'm not terribly good with analyses, but
> I'll try to express what I like about the poem.

 Excellent?  There's nothing like this.  This poem hits hard - but it seems
 to be written to _deliberately_ hit hard, if you know what I mean.

 She gives me the impression of trying too hard, to be more feminist than the
 most rabid feminist ... and I have read a few feminist poets (Adrienne Rich,
 Maxine Kumin and such come to mind).

 FWIW, I have a distant (and old) relative whose family was quite close to
 Kamala Das's family.  That's a nice old man - but he wasn't exactly very
 complimentary about Ms.Das ditching her husband like she did.

 Yeah, generation gap, conservationism and such aside, he wasn't impressed by
 her all that much.  Neither was I, or am I.

 	-s
-- 
Suresh Ramasubramanian + suresh@
Friday@ + http://kcircle.com
Under deadline pressure for the next week.  If you want something, it can wait.
Unless it's blind screaming paroxysmally hedonistic...