Purnima Dash, Bhubaneswar, 16 May 2025
Chastity clogs my bones, frets my decisions, suffocates my movements. The very same chastity I murder in my dissertations.
It chases me down, grabs me by the neck.
I should protect it with all my powers. No man can pollute it. Not until his fingers have traced my temples red.
Who am I to stop him if the Gods have let him devour my flesh? He spits it out the moment I hand him his kin. The very same day my flesh erodes. I’m left with just a heart. A heart that must give, give, give. I give them everything but my name, my blood. Even the pyre cannot erase the vermillion sealed into my skull.
If no man can pollute me, why must he?
