Entanglements
Sharanpal Ruprai
she attends a Christian private school flirts with white girls
in short skirts from eight
to four changes into a kameez at seven we meet at Gurdwara
our parents praying
inside
outside
she reveals secrets about nuns girls who bind her to the bike rack and
heave dirt on her I clutch her hands tell her I will marry her take her away on
Fridays we plead for sleepovers
#
when her parents leave for the night we dress up she in her
father's big suit and burgundy turban me in a large yellow sari with deep
gold borders I twist my hair around chopsticks while he
picks tulips outside rings
the doorbell answers it himself as father
he my arranged husband
I flutter my eyelashes she grasps my hand while the other travels to my lower back
alone after all she hits the music he knows how to shake his
hips leads me in a dirty bollywood dance forward then back
chopsticks fall out of my hair her
turban unravels
#
entangled in saris and sleep smiles parents catch us
we are not allowed sleepovers anymore but rendezvous at the Gurdwara in the
back left corner mother and fathers turn their heads 180 degrees away
from god to check up on us
I spin plans to run away
#
She meets a white girl named Andrea who lets her colour Jesus
brown she's cute she says my arranged husband doesn't show up for five days
#
On the sixth days she confesses
she kissed Andrea on the lips
the other white girls called her
pakiqueer
you are not allowed to kiss white girls
I punched her mothers come rushing
blood all over the carpet
on the seventh day I think she went to church to repent or
maybe we broke up
in short skirts from eight
to four changes into a kameez at seven we meet at Gurdwara
our parents praying
inside
outside
she reveals secrets about nuns girls who bind her to the bike rack and
heave dirt on her I clutch her hands tell her I will marry her take her away on
Fridays we plead for sleepovers
#
when her parents leave for the night we dress up she in her
father's big suit and burgundy turban me in a large yellow sari with deep
gold borders I twist my hair around chopsticks while he
picks tulips outside rings
the doorbell answers it himself as father
he my arranged husband
I flutter my eyelashes she grasps my hand while the other travels to my lower back
alone after all she hits the music he knows how to shake his
hips leads me in a dirty bollywood dance forward then back
chopsticks fall out of my hair her
turban unravels
#
entangled in saris and sleep smiles parents catch us
we are not allowed sleepovers anymore but rendezvous at the Gurdwara in the
back left corner mother and fathers turn their heads 180 degrees away
from god to check up on us
I spin plans to run away
#
She meets a white girl named Andrea who lets her colour Jesus
brown she's cute she says my arranged husband doesn't show up for five days
#
On the sixth days she confesses
she kissed Andrea on the lips
the other white girls called her
pakiqueer
you are not allowed to kiss white girls
I punched her mothers come rushing
blood all over the carpet
on the seventh day I think she went to church to repent or
maybe we broke up
Working notes
There is still a silence about sexuality within various communities across Canada. Therefore how can lesbians be extinct when silence is still a form of survival for many women.
About the author
Sharonpal Ruprai is currently in the Ph. D. program in the Department of Humanities at York University. Her creative work has been published in two anthologies, Exposed and Red Silk: An Anthology of South Asian Canadian Women Poets.
For an updated list of works published in TRIVIA, please see this author's contributor page.
For an updated list of works published in TRIVIA, please see this author's contributor page.