Dear Reader
Today’s poem takes after a prompt by Alt Poetry who discussed Kamala Das’ poems during their recent offline meet in Bangalore. It is a response to her poem, A Hot Noon in Malabar. The prompt was to have a similar title and be inspired. I read the poem closely and hence my response is almost a replica, only that I talk of life in the hills and take a more contemporary route adding rebellion and distress over climate change that has adversely affected the hills (along with a little nostalgia).
A HOT NOON IN THE HILLS
This is a noon for hardy women with
Bulging sacks on their backs, a noon
For tea-slurping idle men on their haunches
Taking drags of beedis, rolled in yellow-brown
Tendu leaves, by their many-children-bearing
Hauteur better-halves, weaving baskets, singing
Lilting Himalayan songs of fierce rebellions wrapped
In tree-hugging tales, dripping off rhododendron
Petals, waking from muslin mists strewn on a mile-long
Mall Road stretch, selling strawberries and pallams (plums),
Shawls and patterned topis in (no longer) mild, forgiving
Summers that (now) tie sweaters around waists and carry
Umbrellas, until the evening settles on a scorching
Sun and stars cast away soft blankets because whistling
Winds whisper to the solemn deodars of wild
Traffic on city roads that has melted, this hot noon into
My hills, and I so far away, singing Sisyphean songs of
Rebellion.
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Wow! Rebellion with a very large R, indeed. I loved this. I could feel the heat of that rebellion, Sonia.
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For some reason, I couldn’t log in today. Sorry. C. Lee McKenzie
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Tea slurping idle men.. That line caught my eye at once, had to know the full story, including the hardy women. .
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So in our part of the country women are known for being tough and they do more work compared to men who are notorious for idling away.
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I remember the muslin mist on Mall Road and I love the close that contrasts the rebellion… a wonderfully localized echo of the Das poem!
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Thank you, Rajani. It was a good prompt.
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The imagery is so vivid, Sonia, that it feels like I just took a walk through the Mall Road of your poem! And I love how it captures the change in weather patterns without mincing words. Great job!
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Thank you, Manisha. I copied the style as is.
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I love your poem! The imagery is so vibrant, I felt as if I were right there.
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Thank you, Liz. Imagery is the highlight of the original poem too.
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You’re welcome, Sonia.
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Such a gorgeous flow to this, Sonia. Like a hot breeze winding its way round the whole scene.
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Thank you, again, Nina. I just followed the prompt to the T.
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