Malavika Prasanna - Week 12


POETIC JUSTICE

Poems are not just mandatory components of a colonial English Language course in school. In fact, they are the exact opposite. They are the voice of native people in accessible languages, not just rhyming verses shrouded in complex grammar. 

Dalit poetry has long been used as a mode of resistance. Narrated in personal languages and lived experiences, its less about prose and more about people. It also reminds you that Dalit communities are not homogenous. Verses by Dhiren Borisa and Akhil Kang speak of lives lived as Queer Dalits, experiencing invisibility within invisibility, even in bright and enthusiastic spaces.

Sukirtharani speaks about the female Dalit body as the site of upper caste violence. She asserts her intimacy to the Tamil language and speaks best in it. When old age Tamil Poets (all men) described curvaceous bodies of savarna women, it was considered to be beautiful poetry. But when verses are written about Dalit female bodies as sexually empowering, they are considered to be vulgar. Nonetheless, Sukirtha reclaims the power of her voice and continues to write poems from her past.

While the Rohith Vemula’s letter talks of the reality that is sorrow, despair and numbness, Meena Kandaswamy and Dhiren Borisa remind us that resistance is permanent – Aur kitna saha jayega? Ekalavya can cause revolutions even without his right thumb.

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