daayan gets her name
by Raena Shirali
& so what if they think they’ve found language
befitting my inexplicable, my can’t-be-pinned, my
hair so black it defies synonym? tongues move
to the roofs of mouths to push against teeth
every day without realizing what’s been said.
or maybe i’m too focused on the name, the way
they’re too focused on the length of my toes,
my fingernails, whether that’s dirt or blood
crusted underneath. maybe this is a fancy kurti
adorned with small circular mirrors that i get
to put on, like how it was being a wife, or
a mother—just a different way to look
at the same old face. men have never understood
that about us—now, they’ll think by “us” i mean
daayans, but you know i mean “us” : women : mistaken
for all kinds of foliage : grasping root, wilting petal, gentle
weed. maybe i mean to say i am tired of being called
anything. maybe i mean to say i am no plant, no witch,
but the hard surface of a cold rock, & i wish to be very far
away from here. i’m fine falling in to some old cliché
about the moon & my blood & when it decides
to follow the oceans. i’m fine without gravity
or roots. let me float / away.
*"Daayan" is the Hindi term for "witch." In some of India's rural regions, witch hunting practices continue, and are directed mostly at women.
befitting my inexplicable, my can’t-be-pinned, my
hair so black it defies synonym? tongues move
to the roofs of mouths to push against teeth
every day without realizing what’s been said.
or maybe i’m too focused on the name, the way
they’re too focused on the length of my toes,
my fingernails, whether that’s dirt or blood
crusted underneath. maybe this is a fancy kurti
adorned with small circular mirrors that i get
to put on, like how it was being a wife, or
a mother—just a different way to look
at the same old face. men have never understood
that about us—now, they’ll think by “us” i mean
daayans, but you know i mean “us” : women : mistaken
for all kinds of foliage : grasping root, wilting petal, gentle
weed. maybe i mean to say i am tired of being called
anything. maybe i mean to say i am no plant, no witch,
but the hard surface of a cold rock, & i wish to be very far
away from here. i’m fine falling in to some old cliché
about the moon & my blood & when it decides
to follow the oceans. i’m fine without gravity
or roots. let me float / away.
*"Daayan" is the Hindi term for "witch." In some of India's rural regions, witch hunting practices continue, and are directed mostly at women.
Indian American poet Raena Shirali grew up in Charleston, South Carolina, where she currently lives and teaches English at College of Charleston. Her first book, GILT, is forthcoming in 2016 with YesYes Books, and her work has appeared in Crazyhorse, Four Way Review, Indiana Review, Ninth Letter, Tupelo Quarterly, Pleiades, and many more. Her other honors include a 2016 Pushcart Prize, the 2016 Cosmonauts Avenue Prize, recognition as a finalist for the 2016 Tupelo Quarterly Poetry Prize, the 2014 Gulf Coast Poetry Prize, recognition as a finalist for the 2014 Ruth Lilly Fellowship, and a “Discovery” / Boston Review Poetry Prize in 2013. She will also be the Spring 2017 Philip Roth Resident at the Stadler Center for Poetry. You can find more of her work at www.raenashirali.com.
