Pappus Poem by Unnikrishnan Sivasankara Menon

Heads that have
turned grey in death,
the lifeless who've shed
the weight of life
soar on the wings of wind.

In the haunted mid-noons
when only ghosts venture out,
they fly high untethering
the binding greens

Unable to attain salvation
souls of men haunted
bodies of women,
and men were possessed
by souls of women.

Like human beings
souls are also
not permitted
same-sex love.

The haunted body bound
in the magical squares
to unpossess the grip of ghost,
the parallel souls
that occupy the body
fought one another:
Who leaves
and who stays?

The last drop of life in
the seeds flattened by famine,
let them sprout
in the rains of life!


Notes:
The pappus is the modified calyx which functions as a wind-dispersal mechanism for the seeds. The pappus may be composed of bristles (sometimes feathery) , awns or scales. The name derives from the Ancient Greek word pappos, Latin pappus, meaning 'old man', so used for the woolly, hairy seed of certain plants. The Malayalam word for Pappus is അപ്പൂപ്പൻതാടി (Appooppan Thadi) (Malayalam) literally means the (grey) beard of a grand old man.

More Notes
1) In stanzas 1&2, metaphor of ‘ghosts' is used for pappuses.
2) In stanzas 3&4, the metaphor is taken forward.
3) In stanzas 4&5, the verdict of Supreme Court of India against Same-sex Marriages is referred to.
4) Stanza 6 cites the state of a ‘possessed' person: one body and two souls. Is there a choice here for the exorcist on the ‘soul' to be exorcised? What if the original soul in the body is ousted leaving it in the possession of the ghost?