Anti-Shivalingam

Manprasad Subba

What’s wrong
with the man of my country?
With phalluses grown all over his body
he is on the rampage
pouncing upon women;
bent on crushing the girls and womenfolk
he has grown thorns of phalluses.
The barren slope of his body
is abominably rich in the cultivation of phalluses
now grown on his forehead, in his eyes,
on the nose, lips, chin, chest, palms and the backs of his hands
He has become the man of countless phalluses
But he knows nothing of Shiva’s Phallus,
is ignorant of fertile myth of Bhairava’s Phallus.
Otherwise
he wouldn’t have thus grown anti-Shiva phallus.
He sees vulva in any woman’s face,
even in the breast that vibrates with heartbeats.
Sees nothing but vulvas
in all parts of a female figure.
That’s why he has grown
giant thorns of phalluses all over his body.
He hasn’t seen Freud’s mind,
let alone Vatsayana’s subtle art.
Otherwise
he wouldn’t have been so disgusting
with phalluses all over his body.
He cannot read the poetry of love-making
sculpted on the temple-walls of Khajuraho
Or else he wouldn’t have grown
a horn of phallus on his head
and been so ferocious.
Now, if even a single of his ear
has been spared from being transformed into a phallus
O Poet!
Read to him a beautiful love poem
Or tell him the story of Laila-Majnu.
O Singer!
Sing to him a sweet love-song
which may stir in him
a little bit of subtle sensibility.

[Manprasad Subba (b. 1950) is a Nepali-speaking Indian poet of high repute. Known for his poems collected in ten collections, a few fictions, translations and critical writings, he has won several awards, including India’s prestigious Sahitya Academy Award. The discourse of marginality he initiated in Darjeeling Hills has inspired a lot of creative writings and research. He is also one of the advisers to The Gorkha Times. By profession, he is a lecturer of English literature in Darjeeling.]