STORIZEN POETRY

A Bit of Wisdom

My wisdom tooth, the only one of four that came in, Decided to grow a little crooked, partially impacted as it was,

But the molar was healthy, and un-infecting my gums, So, undisturbed we left it, my dentist and I, Hoping the tooth would reciprocate the understanding.

Our trust was not broken, the tooth kept to itself, Tucked away harmlessly in a quiet corner of my mouth, For a score or so years. There never was much use for it, anyway,

But that didn’t cause me to forget tending to it. And so passed the years till one day, I felt an uncomfortable jabbing, And we knew it had to go.

We made preparations for the farewell; my dentist set to work—

Pliers, forceps and levers rocked the stake, gently at first, then determinedly,

Till the binding gave way. The roots loosened,

And just as suddenly, as if there never had been a tussle,

It slid out ever so smoothly.

My beaming dentist, relieved that the extraction ordeal was finally over, displayed the bloody trophy… I could see that it was pretty healthy, not decayed at all, Unlike the unfortunately abused organ I had to lose To hysterectomy!

Is it because denticles don’t have their roots embedded in society’s unreasonable, unfair, unjustified dictates—as unfortunate wombs often have to be?

Wombs that make some women a progenating machine to stack the earth with squealing lives born more out of compulsion than love? Perhaps yes, perhaps I am just overreacting...

I am in pain, you see!

With a couple of conscious breaths, I gently free my meandering mind from that purposeless pain and bring it to the now, to the present pain that’s slowly awakening from its anaesthetised state.

So, my body has a gap once again; thankfully it’s not a gaping chasm like the previous hysterectomical time— only a wisdom-less dentition,

Yet I wonder, what with the wisdom extracted,

Will that help me become wise in the ways of the world at least now?

Vidya Shankar, a widely published Indian poet, writer, editor, English teacher, and a “book” in the Human Library, says poetry is not different from her. The recipient of literary awards and recognition, she uses the power of her words to sensitise her readers about environmental issues, mental health, and the need to break the shackles of an outdated society. Vidya is the author of two poetry books, The Flautist of Brindaranyam (in collaboration with her photographer husband, Shankar Ramakrishnan), and The Rise of Yogamaya (an effort to create awareness about mental health.) She finds meaning to her life through yoga and mandalas.