Teesta Review: A Journal of Poetry, Volume
6, Number 1. May 2023. ISSN: 2581-7094
Fasting Sparrows, Whispering Prayers
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Ashwani Kumar
Cloudless, cunning silver sky
burns like
underground coal mines in the silky summer.
I awake dreaming of another winter
stretch my tongue
maternal language melts on my insatiable lips, and
I lose my
mouth and youth in her thighs.
What has become of me?
I close my eyes, exchange my body with her-
There is not enough space for peace in the coffin,
and
There is no harbour for memories any more.
Smeared with blood, a lump of earth in my throat
I travel with
red-robbed wandering fakirs
winnowing dusk of autumnal - darkness.
In the bitter rains of false edicts and
proclamations
I see my father
harvesting sorrows of our land, and
grieving at
the tomb of my sisters and brothers.
The hurricane ripens in the sea-
I take cover behind her purple breasts
meditating over missing family horses, slowly
the poisoned moon’s top arc disappears.
I open the doors –
the morning air smells of the night’s bonfire.
Suddenly a crimson-cinnamon joy erupts, and
Fasting sparrows whisper prayers for lovers and
martyrs!
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