Poem / Legal Coupan

Premises of government rural health center,

in the night I saw beneath the eucalyptus tree

a faded frail figure was scratching

the dried cow dung cake of the Indian wall,

to sell them door-to-door.

peeping out of the cracked cornered cobweb,

she hopped off, as I saw her. drinks

desi daaru daily in legal coupan.

and people call her a retired city bride.

though tickling fingers beneath the waist, left marks, 

the thickest one–

1975,the whole India was getting castrated,

spermatic cord of newly wed spider was beneath scalpel,

two years after she bore a female child, 

I see spat of betel leaves on the wall beneath the scratched dung stacks.

Dr Pragya Suman

Footnote:-- Desi Daaru–liquor made in the countryside of the Indian subcontinent.

Photo Courtesy: Rightfully owner