halfway
look, I know that you don’t see your self reflected in my stark desert face: I am not a lake by whose side your inner narcissus may sit and gaze at himself wrapped in made-belief your feet may sink if you stand too long at the contours of this face they are unmarked by your want; to the devouring gaze my face is quicksand I am not your mirror not your mother nor maker not the / of You is me but there are bridges over those old lakes and there is walking in waking up to the new me and my sisters, our daughters have been moving on foot for years and years our voices bundled into our stories, keeping us and our babies from hunger our tongues turning, our brains burning like coal feeding our bellies on fire and in our moving there are bridges we have been building that await a crossing I may become visible and you could break the curse of never being able to love one but your self if you begin walking across we could meet halfway and you could learn to see me and gather the courage to see you it will be a seeing that is neither consuming nor being consumed
Dr. Sonali Pattnaik is an award winning feminist poet, academic, educator and visual artist. She is the author of when the flowers begin to speak (Writers Workshop, 2021), a solo collection of poetry that marks a woman’s journey through abuse, survival and hope, for which she was recently awarded the WE ‘Intense Feminine Power’ Gifted Poet Award 2023, and the inaugural WE Illumination Award. She is the recipient of the Orange Flower Award for Poetry in English, 2022. Her poetry and art have appeared in several international and national anthologies including, The Kali Project (edited by Candice Lousia Daquin and Megha Sood 2021), Of Dry Tongues and Brave Hearts (edited by Semeen Ali and Reema Ahmad, 2022) and Through the Looking Glass (Indie Blu(e) 2021) and in The Indian Express, The Bombay Review, Setu Magazine, Café Dissensus, The Pine Cone Review, The Yugen Quest Review, Fem Asia, Sampad etc. Her book based on research on body politics in Bollywood cinema is forthcoming from Orient Black Swan. A well published academic in the area of visuality, literature and theories of the body, she is both an alumnus and erstwhile professor at Delhi University and is currently Visiting Professor and External Expert, Board of Studies in in English at St. Xavier’s College, Ahmedabad. She has participated extensively in advocacy work for gender equality and safer societies including being the Convener of the College Anti-sexual harassment cell and a leading member of the gender cell of her college at Delhi University. Her vision remains a synthesis of her critical and academic work with her poetic and creative, artistic voice for a more equal world for women and children.
Yugen Quest Review 