Poita bhat, a fermented rice dish
cools even a hangry sun
let alone 70 Murthys or more.
But May is serving hot rice in
certain offices where old men
instead of power naps
are making power moves
that just look funny.
Only it will not be funny
when houses will be empty
streets unknown,
blood thicker than a thick skin
cheaper than water.
-
The limit of my language
is not the limit of my poems
because my poems travel places
even I do not know.
my poems are sparrows
flying to every corner inside,
language was never their window
language will never show them the door,
they feed on everything they need
mindful of everything around
but also chirpy and loud
moving at the wind's pace,
never settling.-
The eldest daughter is always racing.
The youngest sibling grows under pressure.
The middle child rides free.-
Writing and hiding away felt like freedom.
It was, but YQ found me during Covid.
I realised, freedom was not a virus but vaccine.
-
April was weary
under war and
talks the walks.
May is not a morning song either.
But it wears the midnight blues
like an eye mask
just to separate a no chill sun
from a waning moon.
Seasoning takes time
even for mangoes in a pickle.
but one day at a time, we May.
-
April is angry
She ain't your girl next pretty
The buried bodies
rise in the wind
stinking as they should.
The hushed mockeries
speak out loud
under the spell of Spring
everything is out loud.
Everything leaves
that does not stay.-
My mother's hands are not smooth like butter. In fact, they have cuts deeper than my childhood memories.
Her hands are swift. They trained in cradling siblings holding a rhyme book and a broom.
My mother's hands do not dance like a flowing river. But they will hold everything~ from missing keys to your fragile ego.
In autumn, her hands fall on my shoulder like dew drops. They hold a lush green umbrella over my monsoon. In winter, they wrap me in her knitted sweater, and in summer, they find me her cooling recipes.
As I said, she does not have the hands of Her Majesty. But they smell like an uncut umbilical cord. My only wish~ her hands clapped for herself.-