Ilina Singh (Mother) and Asha Leong (Daughter)
Ilina Singh has already lived several lifetimes. Ilina was born in Mathrua, India lived in Wellington, Aotearoa and currently lives in Wendell, MA. Ilina is a poet, lifelong journaler and has a MFA in Poetry from Bennington College. Ilina identifies as a feminist, lesbian and student of the Earth. Her poetry is a song that melds the reality of Indian women's lives with the complexity of immigration and queer identity. In her spare time Ilina feeds birds, dotes upon her grandchildren and watches mushrooms grow.
Daughter Don’t
By Ilina Singh
Daughter, don’t run in the bazaar there are scavengers roaming there who will tear from you all semblance of virtue The scavengers are your neighbors
Daughter be watchful at the well stay close to your sisters there are mad dogs in the streets, ready to rend your modesty with lascivious eyes The mad dogs are your cousins
Daughter stay with women in the field even pregnancy won't protect you from the slinking jackals who strike at lone women everywhere The jackals are your uncles
Daughter be careful in your own home attend the wants of your husband, keep your eyes cast down. Don’t attract the fire; let the lightning strike elsewhere The lightning is your husband
The Message
By Ilina Singh
Before I am folded into the waiting earth I want to claim this world, its rampant pines, and grasses thick with yellow eyed daisies and buttercups
Here I will taste the air, heavy with the fragrance of grass,
inhale the scent of damp earth, and hear the woods ring with the trenchant rap of the Pileated Woodpecker
The suns semaphore message (rapid gestures of shadow and light flagged by maple leaves) is clear: You are here, this is the moment, there is no other.
Asha Leong is healer, coach and trainer focused on helping queer, trans, people of color thrive. Asha has a deep passion for helping people heal, understand, create, and manifest their personal vision of sexual liberation. Asha is an ordained earth based healer with over a decade of training in her craft. Asha specializes in horoscope readings, spiritual coaching, and chakra energy healings. Asha founded the Sexual Liberation Collective which is an intentional collective of people who are passionate about healing and sexual liberation in 2012. Through her practice Dreaming Desires Asha help’s queer, trans, people of color heal from trauma, create relationships, name their desires, build queer family and manifest their personal vision of sexual liberation into the world. https://www.dreamingdesires.com/
Listen to SOREN LIT's interview with mother and daughter Ilina Singh and Asha Leong: