A five year old me came to me, asking why. I told her I was part of an unbalanced load struggling to get by. She hugged my soul, the decisions and memories we make are too much, too much, so we all scream at night, some silently and some in some obstinate “work”. I told…
Category: poem
Room 375.
It rained last night as I slept unaware; in Room 375 you can barely hear the outside world except for the beeping of machines and emergency codes announced. At some point it was cold, too cold as I thrashed at the shores of sleep listening to my daughter as she breathed, even and easy. This…
The seen and unseen
The sun had not yet risen, the two third moon making it’s way to a corner of the sky drawing the curtain of dawn, the seen and unseen. In the jungle only two truths prevail, the living and the prey the only commandment worthwhile that remains, the seen and unseen. Our guide tells us there…
I’m fine.
“I am fine,” a means to endure every obstacle and thought. This is me walking myself, the dogs, crawling into bed naked, quiet in my weight. I’m that empty bank account, the flickering glow-worm in the dark, the primal scream of being who I am. I’m not here, the body speaks at last. If nothing works,…
Much
“You never will amount to much,” you said quietly. Not acknowledging that quiet is not silence. Unlike the silence that fell when you died for me, absolutely and forever silencing the noise. Quiet calls for attention to the hum of voices in the background, the koel that sings, the wind that whistles, the moon that…
Blazing.
In the silence of the night interspersed by soft snores, a ghost garden is where I walk, waiting to hear a voice that death has silenced years ago. Waiting and hoping each night to dream, of long dead blooms lying scattered as a shadow moves and little tiger baby appears, in the shadow, is it…
This used to be my playground
Drag the inflatable boat out of the room on the side Where the old swing remains, mangled by ropes Drag out the oars, flicking the water hoping The water snakes weave out of the way. Undone, for the first time in years, Swim out and clamber onto the boat, You never forgot how; although joints…
Acute angles.
I. Through street lampsthe Arabian Sea rinses a distant blue while from the shadows the rocks extrude slowly drifting away, out of reach lovers and friends, children and laughter If I am anythingof any meaning, look for me there, among the shallows breathing soft night. II. If I am anything of any meaning, look at the rain as it falls, flickeringagainst the light. To be…
Sailing
I am just a vessel Tossed upon the seas My fathers direct the winds That set my nautical charts To be free. The calm Before the storm, The starlit nights on board The moon eclipsed by clouds The smell of salt and ocean, The wind and the seagull’s cry Crashing on every wave, I seek…
The return
You never return from some things,yet the body carries on. Sometimesit even travels, reflects light, But when you knock, there’s no one home. How did I leave you? With the bitternessand disappointment of innocents.How did I return? Like a womanwho has nothing left to lose or hope for. The mind still plays tricks, But often the hands fall slack,…
Dregs
Last night the lights blew out one by one into themselves and darkness came flooding out of my breath as I slept. I dreamed we returned to the house by the pond, back among those we loved, alive and dead, not one living besides yourself and I. I woke wild-eyed, grasping the pre-dawn-light filtering through…
ipsita banerjee 