Sing, Slivered Tongue: Not any other feminist diatribe

There is a tendency among readers to quickly categorize feminist works as a means of bludgeoning patriarchy.

- Kusumita Mukherjee Debnath

The anthology of feminist poems that I was fortunate to read recently deserves to have an unbiased readership.

Containing the works of notable South Asian diasporic poets, these poems teem with myriad sensibilities. At its heart, it is a staunch protest against the subjection of women faced in South Asia and abroad. Yet it has a plethora of other beautiful sentiments that are sure to win hearts.

The anthology begins with an introduction that has some valuable insights on the origins of South Asian poetry. The opening poems in the book are by Vinita Agarwal. Agarwal's second poem Ja is an unabashed uproar against gender selection. She points an accusing finger at those prejudiced family members who prefer male children: "They, who wanted more sperms in the family, than ovaries."

Next comes Zaithoon Bin Ahamed's A twist of freedom. This poem is a short story dressed in the garb of poetry. It narrates the heart-wrenching tale of a woman named Kani. As poets tend to circumnavigate the details, a rough idea has been given of the historical backdrop in which Kani was living. Her husband was a convict on the run. She was the hapless victim of abuse in her in-laws' house because of her inability to bear offspring. But she avenged herself. When her husband was being pursued, she helped those hunters find him. The concluding lines say, "And prepared to wail in pretence sorrow for the public eye... But for Kani, it was the beginning of a new life of freedom."

Usha Akella's poem Porcupine is written in a visually striking form.