She, empowered

   There was a chill that morning. The kind of chill that doesn't run down the spine, but runs up your head and leaves you in a state of numb comfort. She ran down to the kitchen, fixed herself a breakfast of toast, eggs and orange juice. She picked up the newspaper, dismissed it with absolute disinterest. Not today. Today, there were things that needed more attention than what was happening around the world.

  She gave a cursory glance at the living room. Where she had lived all her life. She had saved these fleeting glimpses for a moment of nostalgia, for the moment when her routine would no longer be what it was. Mifi looked away, she couldn't let emotion cloud the clarity in her head. She locked up. Then she remembered. She had to go upstairs and pick up the gun. There was a man living opposite that beat his wife everyday. A man living a few blocks away whose buddies and him, were carrying six counts of unconvicted rape on their consience while Justice blindfolded herself to the travails of men.

They were all around. Men, who assumed too much of their strength and gave too much leverage to their egos. Things needed to change around here, she said to herself, humming Janie's Got a Gun to herself as she started her car. Things are going to change around here. Gender equality, or not. 

Woof Woof

There was a stray on me street that cold windy night,
His howls and his barks setting the scene alight,
Assuring his people safety and sending thieves a fright,
And to me gate he followed suit, his eyes turning bright!

Woof Woof said he, and I decreed that his name,
Wag did he, his tail, and threw me a salute,
His front limbs on mine, more loving than a dame,
And his eyes sparkling a story, as he sat by me mute!

He walks me to me destination, near or far,
Running up to me while I get down from a car,
His eyes light up, he knows a loaf of bread with his name on it,
On a cold, cold night he enjoys the comfort of sleep on a car bonnet!

On a good weekend, he know I have the time to play fetch,
So we get a stick, and he'd rather watch me fetch, the little wretch,
Running in circles, mad with his own tail,
One day he climbed my scooter, and to the store we set sail!

We now sit together on sleepless nights,
Watching the streets, throwing shadows on the lights,
His arm on my lap, as I puff away my last cigarette,
Thanking the stars above, for as companions, we met.

- Gautam