Podunk BITCH!
White pajamas, Daisy sunshine
I want my captain home
Tell me “oh, sweet lover mine
Where do sea captains go?” I want my captain home
From Sandy shores of May
And bring me jewels
From a market on Sunday.
My mother taught me a song
“call him sir” and he taught me
To keep steady hands all night long
Until from a little child, I grew
Mama saw how big I was
And mama wept sad fat tears
She screamed blue in the dawn
“Gone” before the morning could yawn
We ran and ran until we stopped
Pretty pink horses at play
Stained my white pajamas white
Held me down, monsters at bay
Daisy sunshine, little flowers
White powder on cheek
Mama sits and empty stares
Why doesn’t mama speak?
Now the captain battles at sea
I join my hands in prayer
Mama turned me out, my dear
And took a postman near
I sleep on streets and wait for light
Powder in hands, powder white.
Fade, I fade into that terrible night
And curses be on that terrible sight
Gods, perhaps in sadness delight
I break, I break, oh I break
Tiny metal
Filthy, filthy shipwreck!
Love runs cold.
Mad love,
You come back home
When the streets are dark
With the night’s child
Lying in a pool of blood.
Mad love,
You sleep with your eyes open
And walk the endless lanes,
Eyes closed, as if beauty in death
Has embraced you for her lover.
Mad love,
You come back and cup my chin
My face is your Hawaiian dream,
A brown land with green trees,
You want to colonise, to turn it over.
Mad love,
I am dreaming of sunlight on my skin,
My golden crown, the wide open sea,
In dreams, I don’t feel your fingers
Cracking my jaw open. In dreams,
I only run free.
In dreams, time is still.
Mad love, golden prince,
riding on a horse, goodbye,
YOUR ALCOHOL IS MAKING THE LANES WEEP.
Sita’s going
I drew lines around her,
The girl in the yellow dress
To see if she could step out of them.
I had heard stories before
Of the one who overstepped
And the dark one who took her away
The sun was bright, the yellow
Of her dress burning my eyes,
Curious I drew the boundaries in my mind.
She stepped out, I held my breath
The sun shrieked and hid
The dark one came
I hadn’t noticed he was in chains
Why did you do it, he asked in tears
The stories taught me well-
A woman out of line
Is a woman in need of History
Playing Devourer.
Rupsa Dey believes in the power of language and cats, and is only allergic to the latter. She is currently pursuing her Masters in English Literature from Jadavpur University. She never says ‘No’ to tea and if given a chance, would like to believe in a world without borders.
Plato's Caves online 