Love in a Bathtub

 Years later we'll remember the bathtub
 the position of the taps
 the water, slippery
 as if a bucketful of eels had joined us ...
 we'll be old, our children grown up
 but we'll remember the water sloshing out
 the useless soap,
 the mountain of wet towels.
 'Remember the bathtub in Belfast?'
 we'll prod each other -

Commentary

alright, so you never ran my submission of that wonderful wonderful kamala das poem ‘the looking glass’. [we did, actually - poem #804 -m.]

but i do feel indian women poets besides eunice (whose work i’ve enjoyed ever since i studied under her) deserve better representation on this list. so here’s a delightful little poem by sujata bhatt.

ok, so sujata bhatt doesn’t really belong to this genre: but she is of indian origin and a lot of her work is influenced thus. there’s little comment i have to offer for this poem. i just love the way in which it captures the essence of growing old together. two people who’ve shared their lives, know each other so well and who can enjoy one another through intimate moments like this from their past. private moments that are theirs and theirs alone to treasure: ‘remember the bathtub in belfast?’

— Vidur

Links

  A biography and an interview with Bhatt:
    [broken link] http://www.carcanet.co.uk/authors/b/bhatt.html

The Wondering Minstrels, poem #843 · 19 July 2001

Guest poem submitted by Vidur Bhandari

Fair use

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From the Wondering Minstrels mailing list, 1999–2008.

Ramachandran · 22 August 2002

Hi,

I am a great admirer of Sujata Bhatt’s works. Can you mail me her ‘My mother’s way of wearing a saree’. I have misplaced the book. If there is an online link, can you provide the link to the same please?

Pragati Bidkar · 18 March 2003

hi,
cn i submit any poems for your anthology?? Or do you publish only well known and great poets?

I have a few poems on poetry.com

Thanks

‘The only thing to fear is fear itself’