in our skies
an emasculated sun
borrows silver light
from leaden birds
while a forgotten wound
is reopened by
a concrete phallus
and it rains green mucous
on the earth
where a grey peacock
spreads its fan
to keep the sun
from our eyes
we cry but our cries cannot
wash away the sky's venom
we laugh and our laughter drowns
the cries of the peacock
(a poem from the book We Called the River Red: Poetry from a Violent Homeland)
Author of the poetry collection We Called the River Red: Poetry from a Violent Homeland, Uddipana Goswami is also a researcher and media consultant. Her area of expertise, both as writer and researcher is the Northeast region of India – often called India’s troubled periphery. She has been addressing issues like insurgency, conflicts, militarization, nationalism, migration, displacement and ethnic reconciliation in Northeast India through her writings. She has worked with some major media houses, like the India Today Group and National Geographic Channel (India), before turning to sociological research. Her academic writings, short stories and poetry and occasional translations have been published in print as well as online from Australia, New Zealand, the UK, the USA, South Africa, Bangladesh and India. She is Assamese literature editor of Muse India, a literary e-journal. She blogs at www.jajabori-mon.blogspot.com.
an emasculated sun
borrows silver light
from leaden birds
while a forgotten wound
is reopened by
a concrete phallus
and it rains green mucous
on the earth
where a grey peacock
spreads its fan
to keep the sun
from our eyes
we cry but our cries cannot
wash away the sky's venom
we laugh and our laughter drowns
the cries of the peacock
(a poem from the book We Called the River Red: Poetry from a Violent Homeland)
Author of the poetry collection We Called the River Red: Poetry from a Violent Homeland, Uddipana Goswami is also a researcher and media consultant. Her area of expertise, both as writer and researcher is the Northeast region of India – often called India’s troubled periphery. She has been addressing issues like insurgency, conflicts, militarization, nationalism, migration, displacement and ethnic reconciliation in Northeast India through her writings. She has worked with some major media houses, like the India Today Group and National Geographic Channel (India), before turning to sociological research. Her academic writings, short stories and poetry and occasional translations have been published in print as well as online from Australia, New Zealand, the UK, the USA, South Africa, Bangladesh and India. She is Assamese literature editor of Muse India, a literary e-journal. She blogs at www.jajabori-mon.blogspot.com.
