Poetry at Sangam
Poetry at Sangam showcases poetry in English and translations as well as essays on poetics and news of new releases.
You: twice born blessing
Me: snakebit outlier
Yours: feedback
Mine: complaint
Yours: culture
Mine: labour
Yours: advocacy
Mine: disobedience
Yours: respectable curiosity
Mine: material illiteracy
Yours: self-care
Mine: ego
Yours: divine will
Mine: divine wound
Yours: marigold fragility
Mine: coconut-broom asperity
Yours: “decolonial” “subaltern” “public intellectual”
Mine: sewage, tanneries, forbidden shadows, midnight pyres
Yours: arcs of atonement
Mine: exiles to unmarked graves
NOTE
Caste is a subject that has plagued me my whole life. I come from a marginalized caste on both sides of my parenting. I have watched my family denied basic human rights several times. Caste is not merely a social structure within India but a form of psychological domination as well. This poem tries to employ snark to reflect on how language is subtly employed to compartmentalize experiences of folks who belong to a marginalized caste versus those from a dominant caste. It’s a jab at the commonness of segregation in urban India where these structures are still systemic and pervasive.