Ranjitha Krishna is an Indian-born poet, artist and electronics engineer based in Canberra, Australia. She composes poems based on her life experiences. Ranjitha won the Judith Rodriguez Open Section of the 2020 Woorilla Poetry Prize (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Category) and was a finalist for the 2020 Wingless Dreamer International Poetry Contest. Her poems have appeared online in Well-known Corners of the People (Poetry on the Move) as well as in publications of the Tuggeranong Arts Centre in Canberra, Australia. Her poetry has been broadcast on The Power of Dreams program at 93.9FM Dublin South Radio in Dundrum, Ireland.
far from her born land
the scene outside the window looks unreal,
the home had become strange and new
a million eyes, no sign of neighborhood
stiffly bare and brown face
amid the impudence of style
long arms and painted toenails,
a wide array of voices
impossibly obscure
tracing her struggles to come,
a pale-yellow sun had grown weak
the air was cold
she hunches frigid
the clue to the labyrinth
confusing direction
her sense of being an outsider
she feels cold inside and out
her life like a flow of water
dividing dry and solid ground
creating two banks
one of which was her past-
familiar and predictable
the other her future-
a grey blank, an overcast sea scope
on which rain was falling
and no boats were in sight
in the light of this profound division of experience
the first time such a sensation had come over her
what a feeling that was!
how can she explain?
she doesn’t belong, the luxury of things
the wealth of talking about thought
the privilege of ease among wise people
she responds as anyone rooted in a home community
she is forlorn in foreign words and voices
she fruitlessly resists
the perceived superiority of western culture
with her limits, and the effect of racism
interweaving themes of sexuality
explores her changing sense of self
as she grapples with diversity
like an image of the ocean soothing inside
she walks undaunted to these boiling waves
intertwining the structure of power
embracing each oppression of the society
leaving behind the nights of fear
with her dreams and passion
she who brings cries of thunder
rises into a triumphant stance
she is a woman and not white
but still like a lioness, she’ll rise
© Ranjitha Krishna, 2021
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