Vacana in the voice of Mahadevi-akka

A vacana in the voice of Mahadevi-akka, homeless wanderer, poet, patroness of women, and bride of Siva. Om namah shivayah!

Nataraja, white as jasmine, fill me.
Lord, hair matted from love, still me.
Indra Deva of the meeting rivers, kill me.
Let eight hundred forty thousand deaths now take me,
As you, Bhadra-Bhima, won't forsake me.
Laugh, brother Blue Throat, for the poison we will drink.
Brother-lover-husband-son, I'll sing and will not think.
Shakra, Lord Asura, take the burden of my tears.
Now, Indra Deva, take the tribute of my years.

Text of "Apple Bhagan of Mahadevi-Akka," from The Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion

Honored to have my poem, " Apple Bhagan of Mahadevi-Akka," in the Spring issue of  the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion.  Mahadevi-Akka was a 12th century Dravidian poet.

 

APPLE BHAGAN¹  OF MAHADEVI-AKKA

When death comes, it will be diamond white.

The dark months before, a falling, burying brown.

All is, after all, a trap of activity,

before

the bursting scent, naked, of apples gone ground.

When death comes, it will be a sister’s hand,

as callused as ground, the slapping of time.

It is, after all, the root of activity,

so like

the dusted brown bottles of sour apple wine.

When death comes, it will be clear and bright.

All actions, after all, from ignorance arise,

The cycle of rebirth will dance with Lord Siva

becoming

as babies like apples, born breathing, born red.

.

 1.      A bhaghan (also bhajan) is a devotion or prayer.

Poem in Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion!

Delighted to learn today that the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion has accepted my poem, "Apple Bhagan of Mahadevi-Akka," for publication in their Spring 2015 issue! Mahadevi-Akka was a prominent 12th century Dravidian poet who wrote in Kannada, often to Lord Siva. A bhaghan (also bhajan) is a devotion or prayer. I will post the text of the poem, as always, after it has appeared in the Journal.