untitled 42

five sisters were born over five monsoons
at Penn
--- the stone latticed home on verur river.
epic-minded parents named them ---
ahalya,
sita,
tara,
mandodari,
draupadi.
father, a wall painter, killed self with a brush;
mother deodourised moods salting myths.
leaping into the future, the five left Penn;
selected partners;
children;
rolled the floors of malls, tourist marts;
turned corporate billboards spewing branded
views;
anchoring civil society in unkempt ways,
locked,
river breeze,    
star shine,
burst of raindrops,
public whispers
insects, birds
shunning designer homes
for unkempt spaces.