Sweet Home Alabama

by Kashiana Singh

99 years today 
Does Alabama realize the 9 minutes 
9 impeccable minutes that take away 
her dreams about other possibilities 
it takes just about that much 
to abort her fragility, to extinguish her 
it takes just about that much for him 
to man up, be aroused, lose presence 
of mind and meaning, to be werewolf 
it takes 9 seconds or less, to eliminate 
all that lies inside her veins, her eyes 
it takes just a few abuses, to riddle 
her mind with a lifetime of screams 
in 9 mins a woman’s womb is ghosted 
with vultures and a clawing desire of 
men sanctioning their own degradation 
men who exist with a phallic domination 
like the animal, who exists by primal needs 
in 9 mins, a woman is tattooed in dark 
images of fetus thrown to the devil 
sacrificed to the altar of an earth, where 
9 mins can lead to 99 years, if a woman 
chooses 
a sombre existence 
over a solemn birth 
chooses 
a constellation 
over blinking nightlights 
chooses 
the impossible journeys 
over obvious exit signs 

9 mins of her life, annihilates 
her into a wreckage and we 
still chest thump pro-life theories 

Sweet Home Alabama

* * * * *

Kashiana Singh, 51, is a management professional by job classification and a work practitioner by personal preference. Kashiana’s TEDx talk was dedicated to the topic - Work as Worship.

Her poetry collection, Shelling Peanuts and Stringing Words dips into very vulnerable and personal contexts but also explores the shifting tectonic plates of the world around her.

She is from India, now lives in Chicago and bridges the miles by regularly etching her thoughts on her poetry blog – kashiana.wordpress.com. Her work has appeared regularly on platforms like OnMogul, Literary Yard, Best Poems. She is in the process of gathering her second collection of poems.