Monday, April 29 2002
Beware of all Things Beautiful
- Maya Khankhoje Maya Khankhoje is one of the talented new voices in the evolving literature
of science fiction and fantasy. Long dominated by Western-centric
technological positivists, speculative fiction has become more complex
today --- it asks more difficult questions, takes less for granted and
includes more diverse voices than ever before. However the so-called Third
World is still under-represented in speculative fiction, not only in terms
of setting and subject matter, but also in terms of writers and points of
view that are unique to its many cultures. Maya Khankhoje's writings help
fill a great void.
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He held out to her, as was his wont,
a beautiful fragrant rose and said: come and smell.
She pressed the rose eagerly to her nostrils,
her lips and hands bleeding copiously onto the turtles
that crawled over her tender breast,
and laid eggs all the way to her back.
She then lowered the rose and slowly plucked a petal,
and then another, staunching a wound here, soothing a sore there.
Your skin is so lovely, he said,
like the fragrant velvet of a black rose.
Here, take this emerald choker as a token of my affection.
The iguana lay placidly over her left shoulder,
wrapping its tail around her soft neck.
She gently stroked the spine of the iguana
and shut her eyes, revelling in its lush greenness.
Careful, he said, beauty often pricks for protection.
She raised her eyelids and glanced at her necklet.
You lied to me, she said, these emeralds look like rubies
as red as the blood in my heart.
I warned you, my dear, to beware of all things beautiful, he said.
The chameleon swallowed the last of the turtle eggs,
nestled his face on her lovely neck, and went back to sleep.
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