I Have Forged My Own Man
(from मैंने गढ़ा है अपना पुरुष, राजकमल प्रकाशन, 2022)
Resting an elbow on his thigh,
I am smoking a cigar.
I have hidden my autumn in his hat.
All the heroines are jealous of me
for how could I forge my own man.
I said—he is not a man
but an illusion, an illusion
lives in Venuvan
rides a lion
but resting an elbow on his thigh,
I smoke cigars.
That is all it takes to defeat him
and he is now ready to confess.
He says that many women have slept on his thigh
but so much nonchalance and obstinacy
was not visible to anyone.
They were scared of bleating sheep.
They were all powerless, cow-ed.
When I fly from his thigh after smoking my cigar
he will need some other work.
I have let loose all my Arabian horses
so that a man can be employed.
मैंने गढ़ा है अपना पुरुष
मैं उसकी जाँघ पर कुहनी टिकाए
सिगार पी रही हूँ
मैंने अपना पतझड़ उसके टोप में छुपा दिया है
मुझसे सभी नायिकाएँ रश्क कर रही हैं
कि मैंने अपना पुरुष कैसे गढ़ा
मैंने कहा—वह पुरुष नहीं
एक मायावी है मायावी
वेणुवन में रहता है
सिंह की सवारी करता है
लेकिन मैं उसकी जाँघ पर कुहनी टिकाकर
सिगार पीती हूँ
बस इतने से ही वह पराजित है
और ‘कन्फेस’ करने के लिए तैयार है
वह कहता है कि बहुत औरतें सोईं उसकी जाँघ पर
लेकिन इतनी बेफ़िक्री और अड़ियलपन
किसी में नहीं देखा
वे डरी मिमियाती भेड़ थीं
वे सब सत्ता की गायें थीं
मैं जब उदूँगी सिगार पीकर उसकी जाँघ से
तब कोई दूसरा काम चाहिए होगा उसे
मैंने अपने सारे अरबी घोड़े खोल दिए हैं
कि एक पुरुष को काम मिल सके।
ANUPAM SINGH was born in the Pratapgarh district of Uttar Pradesh in 1986. She went to Allahabad University for her higher education and did her research work from Delhi University. Her poems have been regularly published in prestigious Hindi newspapers and magazines. She has been an active participant in women’s and people’s movements. She has also worked as an Associate Fellow in the Delhi Vidhan Sabha for three years.
अनुपम सिंह का जन्म सन् 1986 में उत्तर प्रदेश के प्रतापगढ़ जिले में हुआ। उच्च शिक्षा इलाहाबाद विश्वविद्यालय से तथा शोधकार्य दिल्ली विश्वविद्यालय से किया। हिन्दी की प्रतिष्ठित पत्र-पत्रिकाओं में उनकी कविताएँ निरन्तर प्रकाशित होती रही हैं। महिला तथा जन-आन्दोलनों में उनकी सक्रिय भागीदारी रही है। उन्होंने तीन वर्ष तक दिल्ली विधानसभा, दिल्ली में ‘एसोसिएट फेलो’ के रूप में भी कार्य किया है।
AREEB AHMAD is a Delhi-based writer, critic and translator. They like to look at the intersections of gender and sexuality across texts. They enjoy exploring how the personal and the political as well as form and content interact in art. Their creative writing and translations have appeared, or are set to appear, in Gulmohur Quarterly, trampset, and The Hooghly Review. Their reviews and essays have been published in Scroll.in, Open, Asymptote, Business Standard, Hindustan Times, Strange Horizons, The Caravan and elsewhere. Areeb is @bankrupt_bookworm on Instagram and @Broke_Bookworm on Twitter/X.
SEAN PARKER MA is a writer, artist, and musician. He has written or contributed to numerous books on culture, justice reform and poetry, given a TED talk, and lives on the UK West Sussex coast.
