http://www.poetryinternationalweb.net/pi/site/poem/item/12952
PROSCRIBED BLOOD — 1
In the sanctum’s dark stands
Our half-female Goddess,
Waiting on her one aching foot
Inside her stone prison,
Bolted shut and baking
In April’s stifling heat
With his lone right eye, Sivan
Glares askance at Shakti
As she wriggles in discomfort,
Caused by the sticky trickle of ooze
In her vagina from her bursting eggs
As the blood scent spreads, causing
One half of the snake to slither down,
Bearing the other half in its memory,
She grabs and pulls the snake
Towards her to wipe the blood
Before flinging it away
Feeling extremely worn today
From the more copious than
Normal discharge of blood,
She asks Sivan to move away
To offer some relief to her body
The one who is one half
Of her feels upset:
How can I survive with this half-body
For three whole days?
Our contract must not be breached, he says
Without you, I don’t exist,
He declares, as he folds her
In a tight embrace with his right hand
I need to sit with legs stretched out
I must sleep with my own body
She rips and throws Sivan away
With her left hand, and sits down
Once again in the vacant space
Of her age-old throne
All along the pathway around
The temple’s perimeter are found
The bloodied tracks of a lone foot
© Translation: 2008, N. Kalyan Raman
© 2007, Malathi Maithri
From: Neeli (2nd ed.)
Publisher: Kalachuvadu Pathippagam, Nagercoil, 2007
ISBN: 818935986X
http://www.poetryinternationalweb.net/pi/site/poem/item/12955/auto/PROSCRIBED-BLOOD-2
PROSCRIBED BLOOD — 2
On this rainy night
The full moon hangs precariously
From the temple’s sacred mast
The radiance dripping
Into her nose-ring slips
Away and flies out
To catch her pecking parrot
Meenakshi follows the light, giving chase
As the moon pours down with the chill wind
As cold mist on the stone plinth,
Her soles sting and her body thrills
Wiping the trickle descending
Hotly between her thighs
With her long skirt, she runs
After flying through the thousand-
pillared hall on the outer perimeter,
Her darling parrot alights and perches
On the moon afloat on the surface
Of the Golden Lotus pond
Removing her undergarment,
She rinses it in the pond’s water
Impelled by the blood scent,
Fish swarm to her feet
And peck at her hands
She sets out to catch them
As in the days of yore,
Casting wide her sari’s end
Seeing the marvel
Of the pond’s moon
Turning red, little by little,
The parrot calls her, shrieking:
Meenakshi! Meenakshi!
© Translation: 2008, N. Kalyan Raman
© 2007, Malathi Maithri
PROSCRIBED BLOOD — 1
In the sanctum’s dark stands
Our half-female Goddess,
Waiting on her one aching foot
Inside her stone prison,
Bolted shut and baking
In April’s stifling heat
With his lone right eye, Sivan
Glares askance at Shakti
As she wriggles in discomfort,
Caused by the sticky trickle of ooze
In her vagina from her bursting eggs
As the blood scent spreads, causing
One half of the snake to slither down,
Bearing the other half in its memory,
She grabs and pulls the snake
Towards her to wipe the blood
Before flinging it away
Feeling extremely worn today
From the more copious than
Normal discharge of blood,
She asks Sivan to move away
To offer some relief to her body
The one who is one half
Of her feels upset:
How can I survive with this half-body
For three whole days?
Our contract must not be breached, he says
Without you, I don’t exist,
He declares, as he folds her
In a tight embrace with his right hand
I need to sit with legs stretched out
I must sleep with my own body
She rips and throws Sivan away
With her left hand, and sits down
Once again in the vacant space
Of her age-old throne
All along the pathway around
The temple’s perimeter are found
The bloodied tracks of a lone foot
© Translation: 2008, N. Kalyan Raman
© 2007, Malathi Maithri
From: Neeli (2nd ed.)
Publisher: Kalachuvadu Pathippagam, Nagercoil, 2007
ISBN: 818935986X
PROSCRIBED BLOOD — 2
On this rainy night
The full moon hangs precariously
From the temple’s sacred mast
The radiance dripping
Into her nose-ring slips
Away and flies out
To catch her pecking parrot
Meenakshi follows the light, giving chase
As the moon pours down with the chill wind
As cold mist on the stone plinth,
Her soles sting and her body thrills
Wiping the trickle descending
Hotly between her thighs
With her long skirt, she runs
After flying through the thousand-
pillared hall on the outer perimeter,
Her darling parrot alights and perches
On the moon afloat on the surface
Of the Golden Lotus pond
Removing her undergarment,
She rinses it in the pond’s water
Impelled by the blood scent,
Fish swarm to her feet
And peck at her hands
She sets out to catch them
As in the days of yore,
Casting wide her sari’s end
Seeing the marvel
Of the pond’s moon
Turning red, little by little,
The parrot calls her, shrieking:
Meenakshi! Meenakshi!
© Translation: 2008, N. Kalyan Raman
© 2007, Malathi Maithri
From: Neeli (2nd ed.)
Publisher: Kalachuvadu Pathippagam, Nagercoil, 2007
ISBN: 818935986X
Publisher: Kalachuvadu Pathippagam, Nagercoil, 2007
ISBN: 818935986X
CAST AWAY BLOOD by Malathi Maithri
(Translated from the Tamil by Lakshmi Holmström)
The full moon, on a rainy night,
clings precariously to the flagpole.
The parrot pecks at the light
shed by the moon’s nose-ring, evades
Minakshi’s outstretched hands
and flies away.
clings precariously to the flagpole.
The parrot pecks at the light
shed by the moon’s nose-ring, evades
Minakshi’s outstretched hands
and flies away.
Minakshi follows, chasing.
The chill moon drips mistily
upon the stone pavements.
Her feet shudder, her body thrills.
She wipes with her underskirt
the warm blood seeping
against her thighs
and runs.
The chill moon drips mistily
upon the stone pavements.
Her feet shudder, her body thrills.
She wipes with her underskirt
the warm blood seeping
against her thighs
and runs.
Through the corridor encircling
the inner shrine, along
the thousand-pillared mandapam
the pet parrot flies,
to the temple’s Golden Lotus Tank,
and settles on the moon
afloat there.
the inner shrine, along
the thousand-pillared mandapam
the pet parrot flies,
to the temple’s Golden Lotus Tank,
and settles on the moon
afloat there.
She slips off her underskirt
and rinses it in the tank’s water;
then – an old memory reviving –
spreads out her sari pallu
to catch the fish which gather
around her feet and nibble at her hands,
smelling blood.
and rinses it in the tank’s water;
then – an old memory reviving –
spreads out her sari pallu
to catch the fish which gather
around her feet and nibble at her hands,
smelling blood.
Surprised to see
the moon in the tank reddening
slowly, slowly,
the parrot calls out its summons:
Minakshi, Minakshi.
the moon in the tank reddening
slowly, slowly,
the parrot calls out its summons:
Minakshi, Minakshi.
