‘Before the umbilical cord was shorn
Mother had made her mind clear
‘Anna I’ll call her’ she said that morn
I cried, mother too shed a tear’
These are the first four lines of the fourth poem in ‘Death & Darker Realms”. It might start off as a seemingly innocent verse about a mother naming her child. But names can be so much more. As we grow up, some of us might begin to dislike the ring to the moniker we had no role in choosing. Some of us are teased endlessly by a little twist in the pronunciation or spelling.
When I was ten, two kids in my boarding school would call me ‘snake’, because they couldn’t think of anything intelligent. I used to find it bizarre and just ignore their silly attempts to make fun of me. Where is the freaking similarity between ‘Sneha’ and ‘snake’? But we were ten. And some others had it worse.
The poem also deals with bullying, body-shaming and bulimia. Issues that a lot of us face, either when we are younger or even when we are happily settled in well-paying jobs.
The page from a graphic novel serving as the background in the picture might seem random at first glance, but it’s a visual metaphor that might make sense when you read the entire poem.
If you are interested in discovering new poetry, please go and buy ‘Death & Darker Realms’. The ebook is available on Amazon/ Amazon kindle.
Following are the links – (the paperback is available on Amazon.com)
Please check your country’s Amazon if I haven’t listed it or just on your kindle/kindle app.