POEMS FROM INDIA BY JANINE CANAN
Crucifixion of a Woman
I. To the Fake Guru Who Blames Her
It is not she who should have fallen
at the feet of her rapists—
but you who should fall
at her disembodied martyred feet
and beg forgiveness.
II. To the Martyr
It’s the pole the men shoved
into your vagina through your intestines
to your diaphragm—
that I cannot get out of my heart.
When you return, in your next life,
may every cell incandesce with Joy
at what your sacrifice achieved
for half of humankind.
III. To the Ancient Banyan that Receives Her
At your feet, how many urns of ash
of bodies battered, burned and raped
have been poured
feeding your ever deeper roots,
many expanding trunks,
long imploring arms?
And how many more vital young women
reduced to ash will be yours
in the centuries to come?
In memory of Braveheart Singh, Asia, 2013
O Star
My mother used to say
about me as a child:
Don’t worry, she was born
under a Lucky Star.
How did I feel about being
pawned off on some distant star?
Not good. But now
I realize she was right.
Thank you, O Star!
For your relentless, protective, urgent
beam that has shown me
my path in the dark.
Body and Soul
The body is flowing
downwards, downwards
to rejoin the earth.
How it must long,
the body, for that clay
and ash and worms.
When it arrives there,
the soul will be free
to rise and float away.
The soul that no one knows,
that cannot be seen
except by Seers who say
it is a vapor,
it is light, it is God’s
very essence.
Where will it go
without its cloak? Its shrine?
Its root? Its reason?
It came for some purpose,
assignment, or duty—
a role in creation.
Will it be satisfied once free?
Will it like the next stop?
Be happy? Lonely? Or sorry?
And those who do not believe
in what they cannot see
with their small soft brief eyes—
they will kneel on the gravestone
and cry, with fear
they will shake.
As their bodies keep flowing
downwards, back down
into the earth.
Meditation
My body was taken
and then my mind
and my heart was filled
with a deep vibration.
I knew nothing
for I had disappeared.
And then I heard the music—
in all directions, it was coming from me!
Path
It is one thing to hear about a spiritual master
and another to decide
to go and meet her.
It is one thing to accept her blessings again
and again, another to take her
as your teacher.
One thing to try to follow her teachings,
another to renounce attachment
to this world ever pleading.
One, to wear the pure white of renunciation,
another to put on the blazing orange
that burns your ego to a crisp.
And quite another to surrender
altogether, and become truly
one with God.
Knowledge
I Long Ago
Long, long ago,
you didn’t go to a church or an ashram
to be spiritual
every step you took
was spiritual.
II The Treasure
It is not found in books.
They are merely maps.
It is buried deep
in experience.
III To Know
In the long unfolding of humanity,
the constant search for our source,
much confusion
has arisen.
Now we need a purification
of confusion, if we are to know
the essence inherent
in all things.
IV To Feel
We know the teachings.
Now we to need to live them.
To sand away negativities
and egotisms, so we can open
our pores to what is
so we can feel
the light.
To Justine Shapiro, 2013