boy with blonde hair
girl in mini skirt
men who love men
women who defy

busy market
lonely mill
khap panchayat
supreme court

colonial laws
draconian views
unless you conform
atrocities continue

dare you speak
if you’re weak
“not enough numbers”
“not many members”

largest democracy
highest hypocrisy

Dedicated to Nido Tania, a 20 year old student from Arunachal Pradesh, India who died after being harassed and beaten up for his “blonde hair” at a market place in Delhi, India

Image: Justice for Nido Tania FB page

You say I am illegal because of my flesh,
Racism-pigmentocracy,
Separation-marginalization,
Apartheid, a race apart.
Even after the laws change,
Discrimination still exists
Cradling fear and fight of flesh-hood
Same flesh, different color.
Illegal,
So is it my flesh, my body, or my being?

You say I am illegal because of the land I stand on.
I do not belong here.
The land sits underneath the sky,
Shall we fight over clouds?
However, this is no different than the land I was born from.
Migration to illegal immigration,
I am, me, the im- in immigration,
The prefixed knot in the rope,
The prescribed not of ‘im’ and ‘il’
Illegal,
So is it the land, my body, or my being?

You say I am illegal because of love,
An endearing criminal at best,
Same heart, different passion,
Love is not a crime.
What matters is within:
not the shape of our skin
377: I went sleep in 2013 and woke up in 1860,
Illegal,
So is it my heart, my body, or my being?

You say the I of me, the me of I is- Illegal.
The law versus: Land, love, and life,
No! No being is illegal,
Neither my body, flesh, nor heart,
Not even my soul,
It is time,
To set my soul afire and let it free.

Image source: www.citypoop.com