Hello everybody, hope that you all are fine. In this blog I am going to talk about the poet Kamala Das, then there will be the poem My
Mother at Sixty-six and it will be followed by the theme of the poem and word
meanings.
My Mother at Sixty-six
About the poet: Kamala Das is the pen name (nom de
plume) of Madhavi Kutty. She was born on
31st March 1934 at Punnayurkulum in Kerala. She is one of the
greatest poets of India. She is known for her indigenous style and flovour of
poetry. She wrote many novels and short stories. Her poetic creations are
contained in four volumes. They are: Summer in Calcutta (1965), The Descendants
(1967), The Old Playhouse and Other Poems (1973) and Stranger Time (1977).
Apart from writing in English she also wrote in her mother tongue, Malayalam.
She was a very sensitive writer who could deal with intricate human psychology.
She died on 31st May 2009 in Pune of Maharashtra. My Mother at
Sixty-six was written in 1999.
My Mother at Sixty-Six
Driving from my parent’s
home to Cochin last Friday
morning, I saw my mother,
beside me,
doze, open mouthed, her face
ashen like that
of a corpse and realised with pain
that she was as old as she
looked but soon
put that thought away, and
looked out at Young
Trees sprinting, the merry children spilling
out of their
homes, but after the airport’s
security check, standing a few yards
away, I looked again at her, wan, pale
as a late winter’s moon and felt that old
familiar ache, my childhood’s fear,
but all I said was, see you soon, Amma,
all I did was smile and smile and
smile......
Theme of the poem:
The poem is all about aging and fear of loss and separation. The poet looks at her mother and is worried about advancing age.
Word Meanings:
1. ashen pale
2. corpse dead body
3. sprinting running
4. merry happy
5. spilling moving out
quickly
6. wan looking pale and weak
7. ache pain
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