Still Life
When she left me
after lunch, I read
for a while.
But I suddenly wanted
to look again
and I saw the half-eaten
sandwich,
bread,
lettuce and salami,
all carrying the shape
of her bite.
-Original poem by A.K. Ramanujam
What she said to her girl friend
On beaches washed by seas
older than the earth,
in the groves filled with bird-cries,
on the banks shaded by a Punnai
clustered with flowers,
when we made love
my eyes saw him
and my ears heard him;
my arms grow beautiful
in the coupling
and grow lean
as they come away.
What shall I make of this?
-Venmanipputi
Kur 299
Tamil to English by A.K. Ramanujam
