open sky :: SAMVAAD| 31st July
- Vandana Parashar
- Jul 31, 2022
- 1 min read
hosts: Sanjuktaa Asopa & Vandana Parashar
my assigned gender violets are blue
---- Alvin B. Cruz
(Whiptail Journal, Issue 3, may 2022)
top of page
Search
41 Comments
bottom of page
Thank you for this @Alvin Cruz
Thank you very much to everyone for this overwhelming response to my ku and the lively, insightful dialogue it has inspired. I really appreciate all of your comments and encouraging words. I also want to thank Vandana and Kala for this opportunity to share my ku in this innovative platform for the whole haikai community. More power and keep safe, everyone! 🌷
Thanks, dear Vandana for sharing this powerful monoku by Alvin B. Cruz on assigned gender and our stereotypes which become our labels, sometimes masks, to face an unaccepting world. The comments by Alan Summers and Billie have added much to the discussion.
Hindu Puranas, composed in Sanskrit between the 3rd and the tenth-century state that "Ardhanarishvara" symbolizes that the male and female principles are inseparable. It is believed that God is Lord Shiva and the woman part is his consort Goddess Parvati or Shakti.
Ardhanarishvara represents the synthesis of masculine and feminine energies of the universe (Purusha and Prakriti) and illustrates how Shakti, the female principle of God, is inseparable from (or the same as, according to some interpretations) Shiva,…
A favorite quote from the book 'Shikhandi and other stories they don't tell you'
https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/42212444-shikhandi-and-other-stories-they-don-t-tell-you
"Patriarchy asserts men are superior to women, feminism clarifies women and men are equal, queerness questions what constitutes male and female"
A powerful poem---good choice!