Two Poems from Tamil Terrains
edited by Geetha Sukumaran, Nedra Rodrigo
Tree with Broken Shade
by S. Bose
Translation by Yalini Jothilingam
What did we last talk about
Was it about the ice cube
floating in liquor
or, glistening eyes
in the shattered fragments of life?
I remember
the Saamiyadi resting after his trance
swatches of vermillion scattered
all over the entrance.
Withered betel leaf, with shrunken veins.
Everyone standing in the dark smoke
yearning for something
enchanted by the words of the Saamiyadi.
I remember
we were no further than an arm’s reach.
Even so
between us the distance widened
like these ones on one street
and those ones on another.
What did we last talk about?
Was it about the night when you never stepped out
of the dark
the grief-stricken dark.
Pariah God
by Sukirtharani
Translation by Subhanya Sivajothy
You tell me that the name of the
heat splintering your back is
the pariah-sun.
It pecks and flees with
dried, worm-infested grain–
a pariah-crow.
If it steals away with everything on
your hands, your wrists, then it is
a pariah-dog.
To plough the land
and sow your sweat
that is pariah-pain.
If everything continues
by this name–whose
pariah-god is it
delighting
in this bloody rage?
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S. Bose (Sandrabose Suthagar) is a writer, poet, and journalist from Sri Lanka. His works have been widely published in India and Sri Lanka. He edited and published the poetry journal Nilam and was the editor of Thamil ulagam, a UK-based journal.
Yalini Jothilingam is a writer, poet, and performing artist. She has published a collection of poetry in Tamil, Maranamoorum kanavukal, and co-translated The Black Women’s Manifesto into Tamil. She is a doctoral student at York University where her scholarship focuses on life-writing, religion, political conflict, and gendered transgression.
Sukirtharani is widely acclaimed for her contributions to contemporary Dalit and Tamil poetry in India. She has published eight collections and received several awards, including the Tamil Literary Garden award. Her poems focus on the Dalit movement and feminism, and speak against many forms of oppression and injustice.
Subhanya Sivajothy is a poet, translator, and librarian living in Tkaronto. She uses poetry to think about ecologies, archives, and struggle. Her debut poetry collection, The Certainty of Dust, will be published by trace in 2027.
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