Signature by Jagari Mukherjee

My niece asserts that I look younger though my years are uncertain.

Her friends think that I am her older sister.

I often hear such things--

because I live freely,

unencumbered by the presence of husband or children…

heart-free, soul-free.

Or, if you will,

Fearless, careless, childless.

My youthful looks are assets

Inherited from my father’s side...

After all, I am the daughter of the man

Whom women once adored,

Whose handsome face struck a 20-something nurse when she learnt his age.

My father, now 84, had charms galore.

I bask in his shadow, a window

Open to a view of the fountain of youth.

Who gives a damn about the beauty of truth?

And so, off I go feeling smug and stylish,

Skirt swishing, to my niece's college hostel.

The warden arrives with a register

For us to put our signatures.

My niece goes first, and then it is my turn.

I have taken two scores of years

round the sun, and although autumn-born, I feel like spring.

The stars align like roses arranged

In gardens, in a ring. I hear myself smile.

The warden looks at me and tells my niece, "Ask your mother to sign."

BIONOTE

The winner of Women Empowered Gifted Poet Award 2020, Jagari Mukherjee is a poet and critic from Kolkata, India. Her book, The Elegant Nobody (2020) published by Hawakal Publishers was shortlisted for the prestigious Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize 2021-22. She has won several prizes and awards, including the Tagore Prize for Book Review in 2018. Jagari has four full-length poetry collections and two chapbooks to her name. She is the new Editor-in-Chief of Narrow Road, and the Chief Executive Editor of EKL Review.

ABOUT THE BOOK

A woman—"truly, madly, deeply” in love with a man, seeks solace and kinship with the moon. The moon appeals in its various incarnations: old, new, full, at times a glittering half of her soul, other times a teardrop, always watching over the woman and lighting up the way for her with silver shimmer. The man, too, reflects various incidents and moods; he comes to her as a lover, makes love, leaves behind memories, goes away and returns. Woman and the Moon captures the enchanting lights and shades of this nuanced relationship under the aegis of the moon.