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Line of Sorrow
 
  Kalpana Rentala
 

Yes, it's now a heroic tale
A play that hasn't still ended
Though more than fifty years have passed
my history is an eternally bleeding injury
of a body split right in the middle
No matter how many times the divider is divided
I will remain the remainder
 
Dangling deaths all over
Chastity floating around in wells
Pativratyams buried under the earth
 
Black, white or red
whatever colour they may be
the religious veils over the faces are just the same
 
Bodies full of cracks
are but nail gores of male beasts
They are yonis scattered far and wide
after he has squashed and thrown them away
History is full of my flags of victory
of my body branded with blood!
 
This is a never-ending conversation
An un-severed memory

(From the experience of having read Borders and Boundaries)
(Translation of Kalpana Rentala's Telugu poem 'Vishada Rekha' by M. Sridhar and Alladi Uma)
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