POETRY & COVID- Chalk & Cheese?
When poetry gets you flak, you retaliate with…well…more poetry!
My detractors:
What do you know
You India-1?
— denizen of
the Ivory Tower?
Penning poems
Mouthing platitudes
Leading a life of
privileged power!
Basking in
humor-tainted hubris
Lighting candles
At zero hour
Stocking refrigerators
Cheering from balconies
While India-2
is forced to Cower!
Will your poem
provide wages, meals, abode
To those fending
Jobless, On the road?
Will it relieve That
Pulse of the Nation
lacking access to
basic sanitation?
Do your words have
the Healing Power
to Reconstruct all
those Dreams gone Sour?
What do you know
You India-1?
— denizen of
the Ivory Tower?
And my humble reply:
I agree I’m not a
Sanitation worker
Whose heroism
deserves aplomb
Nor a brave cop
or foot soldier
Defying the ticking
COVID bomb
I’m not a reverential
doctor or nurse
Fighting frontline
The Covid Curse
I’m just a well-meaning wordsmith
Trying to motivate India-1
Spreading a little cheer
In places perhaps there’s none
Hoping a Ripple effect
To situations Far Sorrier
— the brave-heart India-2
staking families or career
Disparage not the modest word
I say all Ye guys, behold
Because Words can
bloodlessly move
mighty Mountains, I’m told
If India-1 & 2 —
interdependent for survival
Wait with boosted morales
for Normalcy’s arrival
Life will soon
be back on track
With both having
their livelihoods back
Till then, sugarcoating bitter Pills
in language bright and Flowerier
I’m doing my bit as
a humble Keyboard Warrior
— Puja Bhakoo
https://medium.com/@pujabhakoo
More on Covid-19 by Puja Bhakoo:
How can self-quarantine be wrong?
