Universal Women

Cursed to be scapegoats,

Born or drawn? Both.

From Leda to Helen,

Ahalya to Medusa,

Vedavahi to Sita,

Ruma to Europa,

Geographically scattered,

Tied to strangle via gender thread.

Lust, as a gun dust,

Shoots to bleed.

Metamorphoses to molest,

Into a swan, deer, bull,

Impersonating even as a husband,

At times, disguised as a brother-in-law.

Inherited innocence,

Mistaken for ignorance.

Crime be his,

Curse be hers.

Ahalya, abandons to stone,

Medusa, misfortunes to stone,

Mislabelled via misogyny.

Obscene to be turned object,

Yet none to object.

Taken and flown,

A fire fell twice.

Jury in a hurry,

Biased to be bane,

Stealers succeed,

Losers turn lunatics.

Fuelled via generations,

From mother to daughter,

Even perforates to the next birth.

Cursed to woo men,

Thus named women.

-S.K.Meenamani

*art by @kat_kay_tee: taken from pinterest. All credits goes to the artist.