Writing and Politics: A Few Passing Remarks, By Thachom Poyil Rajeevan

Politics and culture are appositional in all discourses. And, when it comes to literary writing, this apposition always turns into a sort of predation of one upon the other. Hence, throughout history, there is a carnivorous gleam whenever a politician and a writer come face-to-face. So, one has to sincerely disbelieve the camaraderie that Fidel Castro is said to have with Garcia Gabriel Marquez and one has to doubt Atal Bhihari Vajpai, the former Prime Minister of India if he says that he writes poetry and signs the files on nuclear tests with the same hand, left or right.

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A LAMENT

Ants arrive first
silent, heads bowed:
searching for memory's
dampness
or sweetness,

they will creep on
the forehead, eyelids
lips nipples, hips.

Street dogs come next:
unable to make out
dry bloodstains,
they will pounce and bark
sniffing and licking.

When all leave
vultures swoop down:
they will flutter
pecking at the heart's
firmness
and the eye's depth

Worm
they may come anytime
from anywhere
even the earth entire
can't satiate their hunger.


Roots
they come last:
penetrating deep
into each wound
and secret,
sucking pain and bitterness
they will burst into
silent laughter