G. Sasi
With Love, Soumini, You said that black is beautiful Poets have sung it Then, How did the black people get humiliated? We are not the ones who suck blood and sweat We are melting… The blazing sun and the burning earth are not tending us Mother, There is no space for the black people to hide in your wings We are being thrown out Oh mother Kali! Your neck has been ornamented by whose heads? When you quench your anger by sucking blood On whose headless body are you standing? Soumini, Don’t say for the sake of saying that black is beautiful… Don’t sing, Black is the seed of riot in the self Mountain of turbulence Shadow of suffering The color of love
Poem by G. Sasi; Translated from Malayalam by Sreekala Sivasankaran
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Note on the poet:
G. Sasi was born in 1959 in Madhuraveli, Kottayam district of Kerala . His parents Gopalan and Kuttippennu worked as coolies and they lived in the Ayamkudi slum colony. Sasi, after completing his school education went to college but could not continue the studies. His poems were published in Malayalam in Dynamic Action, Adhasthitha Navodhana Munnani Bulletin, Yukthi Rekha, Samakaleena Kavitha, Manorajyam etc. Falling prey to a bout of deep depression, G. Sasi committed suicide in his house in the Ayamkudi slum in 2002. The collection of his poems, “Balikkaakka” was published in 2001.
Note on the translator:
Sreekala Sivasankaran is a poet, writer and translator based in Kottayam, Kerala, India. She writes fiction and poetry, in both Malayalam and English. Her poems have been published in Indian Literature magazine, Muse India, Poetria and other online forums. Her books of poetry “Samayathinte Manaltharikal” (Malayalam), “You Walk with Me”, “Dream of the Butterflies”, and “Stranded” and her stories, “Pink Mothers and the White Monk”, “Two Stories” and “Amaltas Spring” are available on Amazon.
Illustration: portrait of G, Sasi by dalit artist Samkutty Pattomkary.
