Suniti Namjoshi

Side by side

Grass Blade

As the first blade bends, 
                             Grass Blade murmurs,
"I bend, but do not break."
                                               Foot
keeps coming down.  
                               Passionate Grass Blade 
mounts a campaign:  
      Grass blades henceforth 
                           to be made of glass.
   Feet henceforth 
                               to travel shoeless.
People walk away —
                                           Why get hurt?
Oak Tree observes,
                               "Feet are not  relevant."

Suniti Namjoshi

(India, 1941)

Born in Mumbai in 1941, Suniti Namjoshi is an important writer in contemporary Indian literature in English. She has several books of verse and fable to her credit. She worked in the Indian Administrative Service and in academic posts in India before moving to Montreal. She earned a PhD from McGill University (with a thesis on Ezra Pound), worked at the University of Toronto and later at the Ce...

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Poems of Suniti Namjoshi

Grass Blade

As the first blade bends, 
                             Grass Blade murmurs,
"I bend, but do not break."
                                               Foot
keeps coming down.  
                               Passionate Grass Blade 
mounts a campaign:  
      Grass blades henceforth 
                           to be made of glass.
   Feet henceforth 
                               to travel shoeless.
People walk away —
                                           Why get hurt?
Oak Tree observes,
                               "Feet are not  relevant."