"Is it my fault that I am a woman?"

 Poetry by Parneet Kaur 

A younger me,

Just two hours ago,

Sitting in my pretty little dressing room,

Blushing my cheeks and painting my eyes,

Brilliantly thought of wearing a pretty dress,

And go out with my girls tonight.

I then opened a window,

and cool breeze touched my each limb,

Freezing my nerves and weaving something in me.

Just as metamorphosis happens 

With powers of the supreme Bacchus,

In turning Pentheus into a boar in Ovid's "Metamorphosis".

I metamorphosed my musical notes inside me,

Into deep silences no one could hear and I realized,

I couldn't step out,

I am bound within frames of my life.

"Eh, going out is a thought of self-asphyxiation."

My spirit said to me. 

When I move out at night,

Wandering through the shady roads at 12 a.m. 

with my favorite red dress,

In a such an unknown world,

I fear from a bus that is passing by.

I feel perilous and my thoughts take me back 

to imagination of son's of mothers,

And the rod,

And the gang of those who smoke cigars,

And drink tonics of vodka.

And laugh and mock and talk at what I have.

"Her butts are big, she is a slut",

They say.

"Oh look at her breasts, milky and huge"

They say.

Is it so unsafe to have a Women's body structure?

For I know my body and every inch of it,

Is waiting to get objectified,

By those demons of the demi-god waiting on the roadside.

It's just breasts, and hips

It's different genitals,

But same human substance 

Nothing strange,

Nothing new.

A body as similar as you.

Same nose, same lips,

Same spine, same ribs.

Usual human body.

What makes you think of it and giggle at me?

Is it because I have a vagina?

Or because you think I cannot portray 

the powers of Goddess when you stare at me?

In troth, 

I can turn into "KAALI" 

and scare you with scars on my body.

Is it my fault that I own a Woman's body?

Or is it you who has different bones in the brain?