}} Helicopters and Lace by Margaret Mascarenhas |

Poetry at Sangam

SangamHouse

 










Helicopters and Lace by Margaret Mascarenhas

It is her father, not her mother,
who chooses her toys: airplanes, race cars,
trains, and helicopters. It is her father
who chooses her clothes—diaphanous
fairy ballerina dresses, patent leather shoes,
socks of lace made by nuns that tie
just above chubby knees. Her mother thinks
children, irrespective of gender, should have
pets, climb trees and wear comfortable,
sturdy play clothes. No, says her father,
she should wear only dresses. In winter,
tights and leggings are allowed. Except
when they are visiting her American grandparents
on the farm. Her father, outnumbered by in-laws,
relents. Even he understands that delicate lace
and frills make no sense if his daughter
is going to be riding around on a tractor
and milking cows with her grandfather,
Or digging carrots in the garden with her grandmother.
Or riding in front of her mother on horseback,
outside his purview. He is not a sportsman.
And so finally, her mother has her chance. She must
catch her opportunities, if only fleeting,
whenever she can in order to build a daughter who
might fly helicopters when she grows up.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Margaret Mascarenhas is a transnational poet, novelist, essayist and independent curator of Indo-American origin who writes in three languages–English, Portuguese and Spanish. She is the author of the poetry collection Triage—casualties of love and sex (Harper Collins 2013), and the novels The Disappearance of Irene Dos Santos (Hachette 2010), and Skin (Penguin 2001). She has contributed essays to both popular culture magazines and scholarly journals for over two decades, including the Fundaçao Calouste Gulbenkian literary journal, Coloquio-Letras. Her most recent memoir work has appeared in the anthology Walking Towards Ourselves (Hardie Grant 2016) and will be appear in a Tagus anthology (University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth) anthology in 2018. Also scheduled for release in 2018, her short fiction will be anthologized in Goa Between Culures, to be published by Yale University in collaboration with independent publisher, Goa 1556. She is presently working on a second collection of poetry and a third novel. She lives in Goa and is a founding member of PEN South India.