Requiem For An Unknown Tigress Cub
still the climbing green lianoid lass
her tender tendrils torn
massive metal lying like a cutlass
in her lap forlorn
finger on trigger
still the wetness thighs eyes
the breasts peaking
the quick quelling blushing frenzy
the slightly forwardthrusting awkward turgidness of the torso
the stalk-neck craning
a young pallid green palmyra on the thrust
the dusky knuckly fingers strict and bony quivering
the gangly gait now stiffening
and within alert grasp
an AK-47
rounds of bandolier bullets
nipping her nipples
fatigues for jungle sarees loose silk anklelength skirts
over rough cotton jodhpurs
rubbery canvas shoes for Ali Baba leather sandals
sandalwood clogs
the loin-length sesame-oiled tresses severed at the shoulders
the rationed tampax crushed in the back jodhpur pocket
the drilled march still aching in the pelvic girdle
the shoulder blades
too tendon-strained streaky shark's fins
her mind on her mother's diurnal diabetic needle
and the relief the dowry promised to the boy next door
the lightly tripping fiesta truant feeling
a matinee show
the classes well the classes but for the maths teacher
she was just then getting on the mend
her mind shutting out the homely odour of steaming
puttu and cambal
itiyappam and coti
rasam and rice
the rat-a-tat of sudden staccato fire
the screaming blinding flash of shells
the dirgeful thudthud of bursting bombs
the grating crackling of armoured car chains
and the distant muffled blasts
droning planes swooping
the bark and shriek of schrapnel...
then the raspy clipped yelp of the platoon commander
ends her reverie
her face crushed against a mound of freshturned sod
her right knee twisted trapped in the hunched cavern of her
pubertally pulpy belly
the breath expelled in an urgent wheezing crushed moan
the last stifled desperate cry
for her long distraught mother
poem by T. Wignesan
Added by Poetry Lover
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