DEAR WOMAN, DEAR SELF, DEAR ONE by Mukta Sambrani

Dear woman, dear self, dear one,

Did you think it was going to be like this?

Like all this? Did you? Really?

Remember to have your eyes open- Will you?

Did you? What will you do when

People show themselves to you? Will you have

A smile on your face? Will your eyes be

Wide open? I know I am asking a lot of

Questions dear woman, dear self, dear one,

But then, who else can hold you? Who

Else will you be accountable to? Who

Knows you? All of you?

So then dear woman, dear self, dear one,

Breathe deeply and smile. People can’t keep

Up with you. I know 45 can’t. He might

Dream that he might grab your sisters by

Their 12345 but then he cannot. Remember,

Those who can not, say they do. They say

They do all kinds of things…they say they

Do you. Excuse me dear woman, dear self,

Dear one- let them say what they will.

They can colonize this language

With putrid mono- syllabic utterances-

Let them. You hold on to you- all of you and

Your words, your worth, your work- in all

Ways, always, in all languages and places of

The world- do you. You do you!

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Poetry at Sangam