The coast is clear
And the sky is tinted
With orange hues,
But I still feel
The remnants of the storm
Inside of me.
I can feel the storm
In the tingling
Under my jawline
And I wonder,
Exactly when it all started ?
Maybe, it was the moment
When for the first time
Someone made me feel,
My words don't matter.
The feeling of being swallowed
Into my own stomach,
Was probably
The key symptom.
Or, maybe it was the night
When they were
A fuming crowd
And I was a lone teenager,
Standing with shivering legs
And a hereditary
High pitched voice,
Speaking the truth
With all the fragments of life
That I could gather in me,
Against their brutally
Misogynistic interrogation.
Needless to say,
Despite having this
Spine of thunder
My legs gave up....

I keep wondering,
But, the options are never-ending.

.

- Ipsita Mitra Pupu
07/05/2021