[New-Poetry] Kanaka Ha. Ma.

[Anny Ballardini]

I can do without it, but I recognize an interesting voluptuousness in this poem, up to you now:

THE BROCADE BORDER


Tell me, how can a brocade sari 
without an embellished border 
be beautiful?
Isn't it the border that carries, 
with the susurus of pleats,
the imperious swathe of body and pallu?

Flowers, creepers, mangoes, grape-clusters, temples, peacocks .
the body, a sea of dreams
the pallu, a night sky.
But it is the quivering earth-edged border 
that takes the breath away.
A simple-bordered sari without body or pallu
like the artless mirth of a woman unadorned. 

Were she to turn around, 
she'd be a serpent-streak across the fence,
here one moment and gone the next.

Hint of foot, radiant flicker of toe beneath border,
her gait, a shimmer of mehendi.

Try as you might to unravel this sari -    
game of dice darting between its folds -
it will not yield the secret of its infinitude. 

Of course, brocades are necessary to enhance the allure 
of lovely women.
And to pin down the vagrant stars and moon
a beguiling sari is all you need.
Yes, we must learn to resist its seductions
but here anyway is a tip:
in today's world, civilized folk are advised to attach
a matching 'fall' to safeguard their borders.  



© 2006, Kanaka Ha. Ma.


© Translation: 2004, Arundhathi Subramaniam


Translator's Note: 
pallu: the loose end of a sari that is draped over the shoulder
fall: a length of fabric sewn along the bottom inside edge of a sari that helps the garment to fall well when draped, and protects the edges from getting frayed



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anny Ballardini
http://annyballardini.blogspot.com/
http://www.fieralingue.it/modules.php?name=poetshome
http://www.moriapoetry.com/ebooks.html
I Tell You: One must still have chaos in one to give birth to a dancing star! 
Friedrich Nietzsche 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://wiz.cath.vt.edu/pipermail/new-poetry/attachments/20061227/091cddca/attachment.html