Anaesthetic Edge
I am expertly carved by the
knife of your love, thoroughly
hollowed from inside, my forbearance pitted
and spat out like berry stones
by your lips. My sanity
scattered like red beans on a white table top.
I live in this great vacuum
where even breath feels tender,
where whispers sound raucous
where sighs symbolize escapism,
where longings orbit around
the edge of space...
The universe is
inside me and its darkness
is in my nights. I watch your distant
magical hands hollowing me out
never allowing a sunrise. Frozen
and cold I still quake
at the thought of your caresses
at your giving. Though imaginary.
I tremble and quiver
press out stars
on the surface of the night
like icing from a nozzle
yes, every time
you come into my eyes.
Anklets of a Lost Habitat
The pond dried-up every summer
and Mollusc corpses surfaced on its bed
like grotesque trophies of defeat
showcased on sad loam.
Hermit and Red-claw crabs,
Pill and Fingernail clams,
stereo pairs of dead and umblicate Apple snails,
some still joined from the right valve interior.
The May sun soaked up life, leaving behind
a morbid artwork of shells and pincers
that glinted like souvenirs on nature's killing fields.
The cracked bed of clay, a gallery for exhibits of defeat.
The sight delighted the village girls. Adornments
thrilled them. Saucer-shaped smooth shells,
some high-spired, polka dotted, tiger-striped, fawn
with brown bands crossing from the front to the back of
the carapace.
The girls dug out them out, threaded the shells
with silk yarns, made quaint anklets
for their bony legs. The trinkets made a clapping sound
as they pranced, searing the air that had witnessed all.
When monsoon arrived, the dry ponds filled up again.
Came back to life once more.
The poor exoskeletons of a lost habitat
were forgotten. Forgotten was summer
that was again, just around the bend.
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Vinita Agrawal is a Mumbai-based
writer and poet. Her poems have been published in Asiancha, Raedleaf Poetry,
Wordweavers, OpenRoad Review, Constellations, The Fox Chase Review, Spark,
The Taj Mahal Review, CLRI, SAARC Anthologies, Kritya.org, Touch- The Journal
of healing, Museindia, Everydaypoets.com, Mahmag World Literature, The
Criterion, The Brown Critique, Twenty20journal.com, Sketchbook, Poetry 24,
Mandala and others which include several international anthologies.
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Her poem was nominated for the Best of the Net Awards 2011 by CLRI. She
received a prize from Muse India
in 2010. Her debut collection of poems titled Words Not Spoken published by
Sampark/Brown Critique was released in November 2013. Her poem was awarded a
prize in the Wordweavers contest 2013.
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Beautiful poetic carving with original simile and metaphors creating a capturing image.
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