On Women, and other subalterns

Being a woman in itself is a poem, mystical, deep and infinite connotations. Each day, there is something to be cherished, something to overlook, something to raise a voice for and something to be grateful for. 

I am thankful for being a part of this journey of learning women, unlearning women, and being a woman with some amazing souls. Women (and others) who hold each other up, are rooting for each other, are okay with acknowledging the frivolous tidbits of life, are leading change, are inspirational in all their small and big moments, and more than any of it are resilient while being immeasurably kind ✨

Dear you, you are loved, and the universe is coming for you!

Sharing two poems that I hold close, both by Alice Walker:

Be nobody's darling

Be nobody's darling;
Be an outcast.
Take the contradictions
Of your life
And wrap around
You like a shawl,
To parry stones
To keep you warm.
Watch the people succumb
To madness
With ample cheer;
Let them look askance at you
And you askance reply.
Be an outcast;
Be pleased to walk alone
(Uncool)
Or line the crowded
River beds
With other impetuous
Fools.
Make a merry gathering
On the bank
Where thousands perished
For brave hurt words
They said.
But be nobody's darling;
Be an outcast.
Qualified to live
Among your dead

Women

They were women then
My mama’s generation
Husky of voice—stout of
Step
With fists as well as
Hands
How they battered down
Doors
And ironed
Starched white
Shirts
How they led
Armies
Headragged generals
Across mined
Fields
Booby-trapped
Ditches
To discover books
Desks
A place for us
How they knew what
we
Must know
Without knowing a page
Of it
Themselves.

Love, Rashmi