Poetry 2025 Longlist, Pooja Agarwal

A Letter from a Mother

Today I learned that I have not one

But two lives breathing inside of me

Two hearts beating, two chests heaving

To the rhythm of my body . . .

To the tune of the universe.

I really can’t tell one beat from another,

But outside, it has already begun . . .

The nursery which was being painted

Stripes of snowy white,

Along with the softest shade of blue,

Now has another hue,

A shy timid pink on one wall

Out of the four.

Through the spilling smiles,

I am told, that you my angel

Will always be equal

In love, in opportunities, in education,

In fact, you . . . my angel,

Will be brought up to be strong

So strong that none would be able

To tell the difference.

That you will get to do

All things rough,

Just like your brother

And who knows that someday

You surpass even him

In all your endeavors.

You my angel will learn

To face the world and fight,

To defend yourself,

For it is cruel out there

You will learn to speak out aloud,

And in case you are not being heard,

Then even shout

You will be taught to put your foot down

And never yield, no matter who frowns

For to have your way, is the only way to say

That I am as strong as him,

Even stronger still.

They tell me that one half of the world

Has to match up with the other

And perplexed I wonder,

That if one half has daggers already pulled,

In the name of power, religion, and gender

And the other is trained to wield another,

Then who will tell my little cherub

That he can cry to his heart’s content,

That being a boy was not meant

Having to prove his grit or valor,

Or bottle up his emotions,

Only to have them burst forth

In ways most violent and vulgar.

That neither degree nor money

Was an adequate parameter

To receive respect and approval

Nor could recognition bring bliss

So it was best, not to bother with it.

I wondered who will tell my cherub

That coupling is not a play

In which one conquers another

Nor is success and money

A tab to keep, and display afterwards

As I was thinking all this,

I could swear, I heard a whimper,

Coming from within me,

But how I tell one from another?

All I knew was that Life growing inside of me

Was reaching out to me.

And in that instant I also realized

That my angel and my cherub will

Only learn what they see,

And understand touch just as soft

As their first one is,

And that my little ones

Will learn to scream only

As harshly as they are screamed at

And that they will spill forth love

And respect and compassion,

Only if they have been bestowed

With it in abundance.