Crafty Witchery

By Shruti Khrishna Sareen¹

My goddess has two huge poppies
in her juda— one flaming red, the other,
a passionate purple. They offset
her jet-black tresses. The poppies 
complement the wickedness of this witch.  
She is weird. She is also whimsical. 
Your goddess might want to be wary of her.  
She wears a nose ring. And earrings.
On her dark arm, she has a tattoo.
Her eyes underlined with kajal as black as her hair.
She has cold, unsmiling lips, and a piercing stare
fierce as the sun, which bores into your goddess 
with shattering intensity, as if in search of her soul. 

1. This poem was first published on the blog Common or Garden Poets. Shruti wrote it in response to Catherin’s The most beloved. It can be understood as #4 in their collaborative goddess series, with the first two poems being Shruti’s Talkatora Gardens, 22 May: A Prayer; and Catherin’s unsolicited response, Sullen.
   ‘Juda’ is a Hindi word for ‘hair bun’. ‘Kajal’ means ‘kohl’.
   Original artwork drawn by Shruti.
   ↩︎