The Fear Of Names

Fear-madras-courier
Representational image: Public domain
Here’s a poem that narrates how poisonous politics of hate & hypocrisy are making the society paranoid

We’re worried about violence
in houses built upon termite mounds

our bowels sick
of laxatives / sick of water.

The streets are razed / our clothes forced
to mean something

and the government /
proposes a ban on blood in movies

because somehow / we’re all still
so much in love. The idea

of a word / as part of the vocabulary
becomes shameful / and we get used
to people with quiet / quivering lips.

Soon— /we’ll all be afraid of names.

***

Madras Courier originally ran as a broadsheet with a poetry section. It was a time when readers felt comfortable sharing glimpses of their lives through verse. If you have a poem you’d like to submit, do email us at [email protected].

-30-

Copyright©Madras Courier, All Rights Reserved. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from madrascourier.com and redistribute by email, post to the web, mobile phone or social media.
Please send in your feed back and comments to [email protected]

0 replies on “The Fear Of Names”