Dy(e)ing Craft

Remember? After completing the designs,

you stretched the cloth across the frame

and fastened it with pins.


You always had beeswax-bars

in your pocket; smudging the silk

to avoid pigmentation. It looked

allid with the paraffin etched on its skin.

I took up where you left. Picking

colours—one or two, with a hint

of gloss. I daubed...daubed; colours rich

in subdued shades. Mixing and separating.

Nothing could seep in

through wax.


I wrung till the veins didn’t

crack. Dye-bathed till the colours

didn’t make seepage patterns.


The thousand suns has melted

the surface. The fabric now

is a vintage batik, mounted

on the walls, for the people to marvel.


~June Nandy

http://throughthestripedshirt.blogspot.com.