Suchita Parikh-Mundul

Dancing on Women’s Day

To celebrate the day, I spin
to oppose the ceiling
that exists only for me,
clockwise, anticlockwise,
until the walls blur,
the body smudges,
hands grow webs
to carry history,
to slip through cracks,
to rise above.
The moon fixes a smile
in my eyes,
its crescent reflecting the spectrum
from shadow to light.
A steeple grows over me,
chants rise from the lips –
I am half witch, full woman today.

Suchita Parikh-Mundul is a writer and copy editor. Her poems have appeared in literary magazines like Narrow Road, The Bombay Literary Magazine, Yugen Quest Review, Outlook India, Muse India, Sahitya Akademi’s Indian Literature, and anthologies such as Amity: peace poems (ed. Sahana Ahmed, Hawakal, 2022), The Well-Earned (ed. Kiriti Sengupta, Hawakal, 2022), and international compilations. Her articles have appeared in print magazines as well as websites.