Her love story with the lipstick from Mirror, Mirror

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 This poem is part of a movement performance, mirror, mirror, scripted by me and performed by Janvi Ananth and me.




And more than anything else, her lipstick is what she uses to define them,

It began on a valentine’s day, her love story with the lipstick,

Leave it on her friend said, they will add life to your lips.

Not the deep  dancer hues, but a dash of suggestive red.

“Drop dead gorgeous” said the dropped mouths of the boys.

She blushed a deep beet red at this unknown attention, bent her head

Bravo, her heart said within though, you are blossoming my dear.


The attention caught her attention, made her aware of her power

As a girl, as a woman, as a  source and destination of passion.

Passion, the word unknown had created a chasm between her childhood and now

Standing on the other side, she tried several shades, Fushcia, hot pink, plum

And this time, she did not blush, but met the  message in their eyes with a frisson

The shades transformed her lips, her lips defined her face 

And her face could transform her, she discovered.

Transformed her Into what the eyes which rested on her wanted her to be.

A sophisticated diva for Rajesh, a fun loving imp for Mathew

Dreamy damsel for  Bunty  or a sultry siren for  Rishi.


Eyes rolled,  tongues wagged,  and gossip  mills churned

She was called  a liar, a cheat, a chameleon

The people for whom she changed deserted her,


that wont stop  me now. That wont stop me now

She became aware of her power as a woman

To make butterflies fly, but not in the garden

She became aware of her pleasure as a woman,

 When passion pierced, what if she was called wanton


Those were good times for her and it was then

That she could wrest from within forgiveness for  her mother.

No, forgiveness is complicated,  it carries the weight of the entire package

Probably, I could say that she brought herself to understand her mother.

Like her, her mother was a passionate woman with a raging fire inside

Unlike her, she had only one way to douse the fire.

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