A set of poems by Manoja
VOICELESS
I have a mouth and a teeth
Sometimes I use my tongue too
My throat is beautiful
Yet I have no voice of my own
Because I am a puppet.
Puppets are not supposed to speak
I am bound to be dumb!
FROM BIRTH
I was born
Alas. Beautiful melancholy
I was labelled as an expenditure
Any investment in me is going to give them a profit
Puppeteer’s friends and family thought so…
Some loved me for what I was
But that was not enough to save me
I am grateful to them for keeping me alive
They didn’t want me to cause any trouble and end my life
So they made me a puppet.
A beautiful brainless puppet can be pulled by strings
I labelled myself as a woman
I have been a puppet since birth.
VISION
Every life on this earth has eyes
I was blessed with two eyes
I can see everything
I see everything happening to me and around too
I have to turn a blind eye
Because I am a puppet
I may have eyes but the vision is not mine though.
SHOWCASE DOLL
I have a name
Someone named me
That is not a bad thing
Wavy hair, piercings, anklets, jewels
So many things to wear.
Who designed these for me?
If I don’t follow these norms,
I am not a woman.
Anklets bind me down, jewels on my neck choke me,
And bangles cuff me.
But these are my strings
I am a puppet, a showcase doll
Designed for someone’s pleasure
I am at their disposal.
MANIPULATION
If they want me to do
I have to laugh loudly
If they want me to do it,
I have to cry silently
If they want me to play nice,
I have to behave.
I am a puppet manipulated by the puppeteer.
SOULLESS
I am not me
I have my own body which is well-dressed and decorated
When I show my face, everyone loves it and
I bring a smile to their faces
From head to toe, I am worshipped and loved by all
They love my body
I am a puppet which is soulless to them.
TROPHY
I will look very good in your arms
Because I am the best, perfect one
Bestowed by beauty and wealth.
I am the one you wanted.
You tried everything to acquire me, conquer me.
At last, I became yours.
You can show me proudly to others.
They will laugh with you by appreciating me
Some may envy you
After that, you will put me in your room back.
A trophy is for pride and supposedly honour,
I am your trophy puppet.
REAL
Real – It is a four-letter word.
Everyone says real is the best
They love real things
Real things last meanwhile fake ones don’t last
But they didn’t want the real me
I am often wondering…
They like the fake smile I put on my face
They love the small talk I make and the fake attitude I show in public
That wasn’t even real
I was not supposed to show my real me.
Because I am a puppet,
I don’t have to act like a human.
ATTITUDE
You are not the one who asks questions, you should not.
You are not allowed to ask
It is the thing I often hear
I was told to listen and follow
Because it is for my good,
If you ask a question, you will suffer,
You are sweet as a flower, you have to smile at everything and bear it.
This is your duty,
Why?
You are a woman, you are like a flower
Flowers don’t speak.
My only question to you is, “Is it very convenient for you if I remain like this?”
DOORS
You are talking about my privileges
I am privileged
Yes, I am privileged according to you,
Because you said so
They are doors you would never open for me
You say it is for my protection
My protection
What a bluff!
The truth is it is for your convenience
I am missing the door of opportunity that I never had.
BLISS
You have to do this
This is how you have to be
This is how everyone lives
You have to be like them
You know what?
You are talking about my life like you own it
But think you can own me
You can own my body, not my mind
That is my bliss.
SOULMATE
I saw her for the first time
She looked so beautiful
No one can beat her on the stage
She shined like a star in the sky
I felt a bang of envy
I wanted to meet her, so went after her
I saw her shedding tears alone in the room
Now I understand why I am so intrigued by her
She is beautiful but broken
She is my fellow puppet and my soulmate.
UNTITLED
I am beautiful
Every inch of mine is filled with beauty and passion
Some look at me differently
I awaken something inside of them
The desire is untitled
A desire I am afraid to tell anyone
But I am a baby.
NAKED FACE
When I see you,
I am wondering…
Who made you like this?
You make me curious
When I held you in my hands,
I want to know your identity
When I looked at your face, it was naked
Just like a beautiful pottery,
A book without a front page
I am still wondering…
Who made you lose your face?
I am standing in front of the mirror and looking at my face.
OUTGROWN
I am a tree
I am a tree grown inside of the house
I am growing, keep on growing
I touched the roof, my branches started to break the windows
They clipped my branches
But I am still growing
They can cut my branches
But what about the roots?
One day they have to cut the tree or
I will break the entire house into pieces.
BLOOM
There is a rose plant in my garden
It gave me beautiful flowers
My tiny bubble of happiness
One day its rose leaves started to change colour
Holes appeared on the leaves
I was really worried about it
But it never stopped giving beautiful roses
After a few months, it started to grow
Then I realized I could be like that
I can revive myself too.
MY STRINGS
My arms and legs are not my own
I belong to them
At least that is what they think
I am wondering whether they will get tired or not
They love to pull my strings continuously
I am their little toy
They use my strings to play with me.
FREEDOM
Everyone likes free things
But when I talk about getting free,
Their mouths become tight-lipped
They will slap me with the words,
Sometimes with hand too
Puppets are not allowed to ask about Freedom
Like a horizon, it is unreachable for me.
WHAT IF I AM LOST?
I can’t smile anymore
Simply I can’t
I have changed
I can see it clearly
I am numb, I lost my armours and charm
People are asking me to laugh
I tried to smile at them, but something stuck
Now I have even lost my fake smile
I am a puppet, I am supposed to smile at them.
WHEN I MET A DOLL
Someone new appeared in my life
He is very handsome
Everyone liked him
No one asked him anything
He can do whatever he wants, no questions asked of him
I looked at the doll, he could walk freely
Nothing tied him to stay
But why have to be tied like this?
What is so good about the doll?
Then I realized a doll was one of them
Like a snake in the grass.
PEACE
I love nighttime
Stars and moon shine crazily
Nighttime is for me,
My puppeteer sleeps at night
I would be in pain but free of strings
I stare at the sky, it looks so serene
It brings peace.
About the poet
Manoja hails from Tirupur and is a postgraduate in psychology and is also a Tamil literature graduate. She loves writing and has been actively writing for online sites like Pratilipi, Ezhilanbu Novels and Sagaptham. She now works at Dexter Academy.
