I met the moon at a book fair
Grey gossamers muzzled her face
She knew all my inflamed secrets
I held a copy of ‘மௌனம் சம்மதம்’
Should I buy it?
‘Silence is Consent,’ really?
‘மௌனம்’ drove me to the cliff ends of sanity.

“I promise I’ll do better,” I pleaded
as mom signed the damp report card.
‘மௌனம்’ seized her mind for a week
I only spoke to my dolls.

“I promise I’ll be patient”, I begged
for love as my boyfriend wielded his ‘மௌனம்’
Weekend getaway turned sour.
‘மௌனம்’ was manipulation.

“Well, what is it Doctor?” I panicked
As he quietly reviewed the scan images
His ‘மௌனம்’ was torture

“Are you even listening to me?” I screamed at the vapid skies
Gods spoke in ‘மௌனம்’ too.
Tamil poets should’ve known better
before they romanticised ‘மௌனம்’
and wrote ‘மௌனம் பேசும் மொழி கூடஅழகு’
I don’t believe ‘Silence is beautiful’

‘மௌனம்’ is a dialect of the demon.
that dimmed the lights in my eyes
Gee! I almost booked therapy.
As abandonment echoed
from the chambers of my shattered heart,
cortisol flooded my feeble vessels.

I remembered
‘மௌனம்’ had a lesser-evil twin-‘அமைதி’.
All I ever wanted. ‘Peace’
The womb wouldn’t take me back
It had the ‘அமைதி’ I craved for
I wish to saw off the what-if branches
and be as tough as the glass on my gas stove
I am mostly everything I don’t say out loud
Little traits wrapped in ‘மௌனம்’

Oh the book!‘மௌனம்கொடியது’ should have been right.
'Silence is violent,’ I reword the title.

I should write to this author.

GLOSSARY:

மௌனம்- Silence

அமைதி- Peace

கொடியது- Bad/Harmful

பேசும்- Speak

மொழி- Language

கூட- Also

அழகு- Beauty