Teesta Review: A Journal of Poetry, Volume 6, Number 1. May 2023. ISSN: 2581-7094
--- Suchita Parikh-Mundul
the
clothesline
after long
hours of work, spread
like the
wings of a proverb;
what we hold
between index
and thumb
while
grinding days
that can’t be
folded away;
the throat that
remains
steady while
others demand a corpse;
the head
saying
this is the
way, let them pass;
the body in
the river,
flowing, numb
with
hard-earned
peace.
A place with no words
--- Suchita
Parikh-Mundul
The opportunity to be buried
in gesture, each limb conversant in silence.
A fulsome peace, eyes shut to noise.
Occasionally growing syllables in soil,
listening to its riverine babble
masked by the scent of the tuberose
and frangipani.
To live in such a town, or underneath it,
where busyness is not currency:
no horn, loudspeaker, clamour.
Messages sent through roots, quiescence, seasonal petals.
To live and die in such quietude,
soft breath leading a moment
into the next.
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