AKKA...By Shweta Rao

Stare me with your eyes wide

Stalk me with your presence

Hover your gaze on my body

I am comfortable with my flesh.

No, I don't wish to cut off my breast

Neither do I want to shed my uterus

I am so immune to your lewdness

My mental hymen remains impenetrable,

And hundred rapes will not change that.

Amputate your lustful limbs if you can.

Now I roam around unbridled, unclad

Naked, as a lover woman once did,

Covered only in her madness, and unkempt hair…


[akka refers to the bhakti poet and mystic Akka Mahadevi, who claimed she had marriage of hearts with Lord Shiva. On being insulted by her husband King, who tries to rape her by snatching her garments off... the virgin queen moves around in karnataka discarding her clothes as a protest...allegedly covering her 'essentials' with her knee length hair. her writings are still sung in karnataka and recognized by her signature "akka mahadeviaa chenna mallikaarjuna'' which means Akka Mahadevi's Shiva]

P.S. Needless to say that this poem is not mine...something made clear in the title itself...I can only hope that I am able to write that brilliantly some time in future...
Blog is place to put up self written articles...I am aware of that but this poem is something I wanted people to go through atleast once!