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Writer's pictureVandana Parashar

open sky :: SAMVAAD| 31st July

hosts: Sanjuktaa Asopa & Vandana Parashar


my assigned gender violets are blue


---- Alvin B. Cruz

(Whiptail Journal, Issue 3, may 2022)

163 views41 comments

41 Comments


kashiana.singh
kashiana.singh
Aug 05, 2022

Thank you for this @Alvin Cruz

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Alvin Cruz
Alvin Cruz
Aug 04, 2022

Thank you very much to everyone for this overwhelming response to my ku and the lively, insightful dialogue it has inspired. I really appreciate all of your comments and encouraging words. I also want to thank Vandana and Kala for this opportunity to share my ku in this innovative platform for the whole haikai community. More power and keep safe, everyone! 🌷

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Kala Ramesh
Kala Ramesh
Aug 04, 2022
Replying to

Lovely to see you here, Alvin. Why don't you please share your unpublished haiku with us on HAIKUsutradhar: https://www.trivenihaikai.in/post/haikusutradhar-29th-july-2022


We would love to publish you in haikuKATHA

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neena singh
neena singh
Aug 03, 2022

Thanks, dear Vandana for sharing this powerful monoku by Alvin B. Cruz on assigned gender and our stereotypes which become our labels, sometimes masks, to face an unaccepting world. The comments by Alan Summers and Billie have added much to the discussion.


Hindu Puranas, composed in Sanskrit between the 3rd and the tenth-century state that "Ardhanarishvara" symbolizes that the male and female principles are inseparable. It is believed that God is Lord Shiva and the woman part is his consort Goddess Parvati or Shakti.


Ardhanarishvara represents the synthesis of masculine and feminine energies of the universe (Purusha and Prakriti) and illustrates how Shakti, the female principle of God, is inseparable from (or the same as, according to some interpretations) Shiva,…


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Billie Dee
Billie Dee
Aug 08, 2022
Replying to

Thanks, Neena, for these insights. Every culture has its take on this issue. I'm glad to learn more about the Hindu perspective, its history and scriptural instructions. Most wise.

---Billie

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Kavita Ratna
Kavita Ratna
Aug 03, 2022

A favorite quote from ​the book 'Shikhandi and other stories they don't tell you'

https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/42212444-shikhandi-and-other-stories-they-don-t-tell-you


"Patriarchy asserts men are superior to women, ​feminism clarifies women and men are equal, ​queerness questions what constitutes male and female"


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Billie Dee
Billie Dee
Aug 08, 2022
Replying to

I appreciate this comment. We are all polymorphic, to one degree or another.

---Billie

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Martin Duguay
Martin Duguay
Aug 03, 2022

A powerful poem---good choice!

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