16
I WOULD
CAMILLA DASS
I would rip skin off my muscles,
bear the burning of my exposed flesh,
for skin is not mud.
I would cut off my tongue,
feed it through a grinder,
so it may never curl around your bkhHp 1
I would extract my blood with a straw
and put it through a filter,
to sieve the lumps from my ancestry.
I would grate off my tastebuds,
in the hope that they grow back relearned.
Obliterate the burn of masala.
I would reject my roots again and again,
because no, I am not proud.
They tainted my pride with stereotypes.
I would never admit to who I really was.
They wouldn’t want me if I did.
1 bkhHp means ‘language’ in Tamil.