Conversation with people who hold a different world view tightly, fondly and with conviction can be thought provoking and sometimes slightly embarrassing. It can leave you feeling melancholy if you are not in a position to voice the world views that you hold dearly with less conviction. I’ve been having a number of such conversations lately and I resort to poetry to express all the emotions I am forced to bottle up during these interesting discussions.

Victim Blaming

They spoke of murder

By a man

Who took his wife and child

On a walk on the beach

It was strange

Their talk left a question mark and indignation

Like a cloud-hole

Empty, chilly and confusing

The man is invisible

He murdered his child

Attempted to drown his wife

But he is invisible to them

Because criminals are negligible?

Or is it because he is a man?

The wife/mother is visible

Blindingly visible

For trusting her husband

To go for a walk

In the middle of the night

In their talk

They blamed her

And not him (Not even once)

For going for a walk

On the beach with her husband and child at night

They blamed her for lack of perception

For not sensing her husband’s

Murderous intent

Do they not know the manipulative power

Of some men and women

How lovers will be blind

To dangers ahead