Release
A shiver of relief liberates stored grief from a trembling, lifting foot.
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From ULR
Issue 9 – Violence
Problem
Her "problem" is concrete: a leaking roof, communal tap, and dirty rags.
June 15, 2023
The house help calls her periods a problem.
Mera problem hai na, didi
aaj mein late aayegi.
I wonder at her words.
The urge to correct her, emancipate her.
Empower her. Tell her to wear the menstrual
cycle proudly. Not to hide her feminism.
Embrace it.
A tin shed that holds Mercurial temperatures,
a roof that leaks on her bed every monsoon.
A communal tap that works only at night,
a queue pregnant with fights. Rags
that stain and stink despite her strength.
I empty my cup, sanitise it.
And shut up because she has a problem.
📖
PART OF A COLLECTIONProblem and 2 other poems
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Kinjal Sethia
Kinjal Sethia is a writer-editor based out of Pune. Her work has been published in nether Quarterly, EKL Review, Samyukta Fiction among others. She is an Associate Editor at The Bombay Literary Magazine.