Videos

womanness: a poem film

There are times
When I’m browsing through the market
And I am struck
By my Womanness
It sneaks around the corner
Maybe I’ll see it
In the eyes of a stranger lingering too long
In the gruff holler of a street hawker, not even meant for me
In the song whistled by the old man watching me from the stoop
In the linen of a kurta
Leaning close behind me at the cigarette shop
In my fingers as they trace this map, looking for space
My Womanness follows me
Declares itself
‘You are Woman!’
My lipstick becomes a mascot for it
And so do the jeans that hug my hips
My breasts, my wrists, my waist
My… voice.
I cannot escape it

I cannot escape it.

 


The film features Aakaanksha Rao, and music by RW Smith.