Short Takes...A Poem for Jyoti Singh Pandey

"When I'm on a crowded bus and someone says something bad to me, in my heart I want to give him a tight slap, but I've learned to ignore it," says Gogia, the New Delhi receptionist. "What's the use? All the blame always comes back to the woman.”

-MUNEEZA NAQVI Associated Press, NEW DELHI, January 7, 2013

INDIA BLOSSOM (A Poem for Jyoti Singh Pandey)

Wither

spreads upon flora petals
sin
slits and plucks.
Its
venom darkens
waves
twigs stretch to drink.

Lotus
is life correlation
men
cannot emulate
yet
some willfully berate
bloom
of its epic stems.

Amid

this hell
lotus
struggles as a woman.
Wilted,
torn like a ragged root
slumped
in a fist above soil,

motionless
in Satan’s death
breeze
before dawn.
Light
emerges— life is born.
Lotus
flower is a timeless creation.

                                                                                   

© 2013 by Cyd Charisse Fulton

********

COMING MARCH 10, 2013

TO AUBURN, NY

presents

THE WORLD PREMIER OF A COLLECTION OF POETRY INSPIRED BY THE LEGACY OF HARRIET TUBMAN, AN AMERICAN HERO

WRITTEN AND READ

BY

CYD CHARISSE FULTON

Cyd Charisse Fulton

IN CELEBRATION AND RECOGNITION

OF THE

100^TH ANNIVERSARY

OF

THE PASSING OF HARRIET TUBMAN

SUNDAY, MARCH 10, 2013

3 PM

THOMPSON MEMORIAL AME ZION CHURCH

90 FRANKLIN STREET

AUBURN, NY 13021

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

AN AUDIENCE  Q&A WILL FOLLOW THE READING.

Harriet Tubman lived, worked and passed away in Auburn, NY on March 10, 1913.  The public had the opportunity to pay their respect a few days later at 3 PM.  Tubman, buried in Auburn’s Fort Hill Cemetery, is an international inspiration.

Harriet Tubman's gravesite, Fort Hill Cemetery, Auburn, NY

For further information, e-mail bill@aaduna.org