Poems by Sukumaran Chaligadha
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What Appan Fed Us
Wild fowl curry on Mondays Crab curry on Tuesdays Vegetable curry on Wednesdays Fish curry on Thursdays Turtle curry on Fridays Rabbit curry on Saturdays Venison curry on Sundays. Mondays came again. Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Thursdays and Fridays. I thought a lot and gave my word To Father. On Saturday, Appan went to the shop and bought two kilos of sambar powder. Amma went and bought pulses. I went and bought tapioca. When it was Monday again I demanded pork. Appan made a bow and arrow with my Amma’s blessings, and shot the arrow flying into the forest. In the morning, the forest guards came scooped up the bones and the charred remains of the curry and took them away along with Appan. Note Appan—Father. Amma—Mother. |
Sukumaran Chaligadha (Bethimaran) is a well-known tribal poet from Wayanadu. He writes poems, stories, novels and songs in his language, Ravula, and Malayalam. He edited the first-of-its kind anthology of tribal poetry in 2020. His memoir Bethimaran was published in 2022. He has published Kuru (Elephant Stories). His forthcoming titles are Ochayillatha oru thatha (A Silent Parrot: Poems) and Ranku (Stories). He is a member of the General Council of the Sahithya Akademi, Kerala.
Ra Sh (Ravi Shanker N.) is a poet and translator based in Palakkad, Kerala. He has published four collections of poetry, including Architecture of Flesh and Bullet Train and Other Loaded Poems, and a chapbook, In the Mirror, Our Graves, written jointly with Ritamvara Bhattacharya. He has also published a play titled Blind Men Write. He has translated several Malayalam poems into English and anthologised them in How to Translate an Earthworm.
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