one day,
there were no
more mango trees
to climb,
no uncles to pillion with.
hop scotch became
a banished game
and with it,
father’s lap
that once welcomed
tears and smiles
and dreams
that stretched longer
than mother’s colourful sarees.
the clothes became
longer,
looser
and evening outings
turned shorter
with every passing year.
walking meant
watching the ground
lest the stars above
made a bait of me.
suddenly,
the family’s love
had a new name.
what is it that
they call flightless birds?
Author Bio:
Shobhana Kumar's first collection of poetry, 'The Voices Never Stop' was published by Writers Workshop, Calcutta, in 2012. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in several journals and publications including Origami Poems Project, The Buddhist Poetry Review, ReadLeaf Poetry, Kritya, The Poetry Society of India, among others. She has also authored five books of nonfiction.
there were no
more mango trees
to climb,
no uncles to pillion with.
hop scotch became
a banished game
and with it,
father’s lap
that once welcomed
tears and smiles
and dreams
that stretched longer
than mother’s colourful sarees.
the clothes became
longer,
looser
and evening outings
turned shorter
with every passing year.
walking meant
watching the ground
lest the stars above
made a bait of me.
suddenly,
the family’s love
had a new name.
what is it that
they call flightless birds?
Author Bio:
Shobhana Kumar's first collection of poetry, 'The Voices Never Stop' was published by Writers Workshop, Calcutta, in 2012. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in several journals and publications including Origami Poems Project, The Buddhist Poetry Review, ReadLeaf Poetry, Kritya, The Poetry Society of India, among others. She has also authored five books of nonfiction.
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