She brushes red mine dust
from sandals worn smooth
leaving veins in cracked heels
"everything here is red," she smiles
folds her fatigues
into neat samosas
with quick, slender motions
red, the color of death
ripped earth and wombs
shallow the Indravati
red, the color of endurance
a headdress of bricks
a helix of buntings
tonight she will carry
the weight of her world
two husbands
her mother's prayers
Niyamgiri's stony breasts
with an AK on her back
a flash of black eyes and steel
as she rises to dance
she shatters the Tendu leaf ceiling
offering light to stars
to the world unknown.
Yasmeen Najmi
© 2010 Yasmeen Najmi (inspired by "Walking with the Comrades" by Arundhati Roy)
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