'The moment/ the camera caught her'

The listless despondency                              in her eyes

Her comrade half turned                        dim eyes far into the future

The arm of support                           invisible

Fragile fingers resting                                    casually on frail shoulders

The linen shirt collar jostle                                                     for attention

Frayed and faded                                the black irises unfathomable

Clusters of brown curls                                           like unruly emotions

Frame                            an unknown nascent innocence

Bold lips silent                         taught                       only to obey commands

Gunfire and guerrilla warfare         cohabit     with teenage tantrums

Adolescent dreams turn fast into                                nightmares of Reality

© Sutapa Chaudhuri

*This poem is inspired by the photo of a 14-year-old child soldier who was photographed with the ©Farc in 2000.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28600850

A bilingual poet, translator and an academic, Sutapa Chaudhuri, PhD, teaches English at a college near Kolkata, India. She has two collections of poetry —Broken Rhapsodies (2011) and Touching Nadir (2014).

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'Knowledge @ School'

Everyday a bloodbath

An existence filled with violence

Everyday a fear

Lacerating  in crimson hues

The spotless purity of school tunics

A lurking death dealer

Camouflaged against the white

White walls of a secured sanctity

CCTVs glint recording every moment

Their all-knowing black eyes

Unable to register the red passion

The lusty predator at large

Invading gleefully

The unfenced trust of a pure soul

The knowledge of a red fear

Comes in novel ways

The breach of trust

A deadly sin

Haunting the child heart

Marked adult forever

In a single red moment

Of brutal abuse

Sutapa Chaudhuri

http://www.thedailystar.net/world/six-year-old-raped-in-indian-school-33855

A bilingual poet, translator and an academic, Sutapa Chaudhuri, PhD, teaches English at a college near Kolkata, India. She has two poetry collections—Broken Rhapsodies (2011) and Touching Nadir (2014).

For how long shall we burn

For how long shall we burn

And not speak up

For how long shall the shackles

Bind us down

For how long shall we die unfed

Lie bleeding naked on apathetic roadsides

A titillating spectacle to the eyes of

Indifferent passersby

For how long shall the wolves hunt us down

Succulent flesh to soulless predators

For how long shall the trees bend down

Laden with mutilated corpses

Their swaying skyward branches

The only haven for abandoned, violated girls

For how long shall our parents die

Each day a thousand deaths

Burning dowries, kitchen fires

For how long shall our brothers kill us

For love, for honour

For daring to choose our lives

For how long shall we be hounded by rapacious

Gangs of emasculated men

For how long shall our unborn selves

Cry unheard in mutilated pain

For how long shall we burn

And not speak up

© Sutapa Chaudhuri

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/horrified-at-reports-of-violence-against-women-in-india-us-on-badaun-rape-case-535671

A bilingual poet, translator and an academic, Sutapa Chaudhuri, PhD, teaches English at a college near Kolkata, India. She has two poetry collections—Broken Rhapsodies (2011) and Touching Nadir (2014).This poem is a response to the condition of Indian women and their experience of violence, and domestic abuse, including rape, dowry deaths, female foeticide, honour killings, abandonment and countless other heinous crimes…