Skip to main content

The Coward of the City


Let my scars bleed,
For I am the coward of the city,
I dare not to look into my scars.
The hymns of evening is stuck in my throat,
And I spit out contagious poison.
I cannot see the scars in my body,
I only see the blood oozing out,
For I am the coward of the city.
The land and the herdsmen ran away,
The women and the children disappeared.
My vanity experienced a meltdown
In the battlefield,
My swords and words search for a meaning.
Thirsty and alone,
My surroundings applause at my fate,
But I demand,
Squeeze me easily, my fate.
Dare not to befriend me,
For I'm the thorny flower in the garden.
Glad that the city has abandoned
Its coward,
For this world demands heroes,right or wrong
Who looks into their scars and
Stops the bleeding.
But I'm the coward, who looks into the blood.
Spectral lights envelope the bloody me
And guardian angels fly away,
In search of heroes.
As immovability takes charge of my body,
The vocal chords form the last
Words of cowardice,
"But what can be done when you
Are given a rusty sword and
Broken language?",
Which never came out of the mouth,
For the wrong hero has
Snatched the last breath.

A.C

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Of mothers, sarees and their grief

Mothers are often presented as the epitome of love in movies. The struggles, sacrifices and the quiet tiredness they carry are praised, even placed on a pedestal. But we rarely talk about their grief, the grief of unlived lives. Have you ever thought about the lives of these mothers before marriage and motherhood? Before all the giving began? So often, clad in their sarees, mothers cook and smile, clean and laugh. But is that all they ever wanted? Do they carry the weight of the shadows of their unlived lives? Many do, though they may never say it aloud. And they leave it behind for the happiness of the ones they love. I often feel that when they wipe sweat from their brows with the edge of their sarees, they catch the glimpse of their hidden grief. The loneliness and the neglect they receive, they tuck it away, fold it into the pleats of their sarees and smile again. Some may have once wanted to be doctors, teachers, dancers, writers, travellers. And even in their happiest moments, th...

Laapataa Ladies aka Ladies Lost in Patriarchy

Kiran Rao’s “Laapataa Ladies” is a social satire that offers entertainment as well as empowerment. The movie humorously portrays the grave realities of a patriarchal society with the help of a simple story and background. As the name and the trailer suggested, it revolves around two newly married brides who get lost on the way to their in-laws’ home. While Jaya, whom Deepak accidentally brings home instead of his wife Phool, seizes this opportunity to follow her dream, Phool undergoes profound personal growth during the time. This period shows multiple women discovering themselves. Some learn to do things that they love for themselves while others learn to explore and embrace their talents.  Even though Jaya and Phool are two contradictory characters, they are both equally victims of patriarchal conditioning. While Jaya is ready to break and act against all the norms of society from the very beginning by uttering the name of her husband to everyone’s disbelief, Phool learns to do t...

Love in the age of checklists: A critical review of Materialists

  Celine Song ’s  Materialists  (2025) is a modern-day romantic comedy produced by  A24 , starring  Dakota Johnson ,  Chris Evans and  Pedro Pascal . Released in cinemas in June 2025, the film became one of the year’s highly anticipated movies after its glossy trailer premiere with  Phlottila’s cover  of  Madonna’s  Material Girl  as a backdrop, with the hope of experiencing a conflicting love triangle. But underneath its glittering surface lies a deeper, sobering reflection on romance, quid pro quo relationships, and the loneliness offered by contemporary urban life. Similar to her feature debut,  Past Lives ,  Song investigates how individual desire confronts societal norms, but this time through the workings of modern matchmaking. Dakota Johnson in  Materialists . Image: IMDb  The narrative revolves around Lucy (Dakota Johnson), a high-end professional matchmaker who sees marriage as a business deal betwe...