TRANSLATED FROM THE TAMIL BY SHERWIN RODRIGUEZ
POEM 1
In the subdued mode of the adivasi song,
there is the sound of water rustling against rock.
Somewhere, there is a pool even sunlight hasn’t stepped in;
the black mud soaked through is a natural trap.
Block the animal’s escape
with our hunting dogs.
Our prey’s eyes stare at the field
where corn ears stand
like angry snakes;
these golden feathers that litter its path are good omens.
Elay Pangali,
Steering the animal’s faltering feet
towards the trap is the right strategy;
with bow and with hound, spread fear.
POEM 2
An ancient voice descends into the forest—
See, this vision of our people from the past,
in pursuit of a black-and-red bird for sustenance.
There are sounds of bone being sharpened against rock.
There, on the tall thorny tree,
a blood-soaked intestine twitches like a long worm.
Like an untamed vine
it is wound around a branch.
Elay Pangali,
the eagle’s cry is a good omen while hunting.
Tighten your grip on the spear,
I can see the tracks of a heavy animal—
split it open like a log of firewood.
Also, read Two Tamil Poems by Mounan Yathrika, translated from The Tamil by Sherwin Rodriguez and published in The Antonym:
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