Colours That Vanish— Nishi Pulugurtha
Where are the colours that fill the spaces? Are they gone?
The leaves shrivelled , dank and dull, faded
As the colours erase out, in slow pace
Scorching, fiery, tormenting with blisters
That tear and burn
Festering and rotting
The disappearing colours turn and twist
Those brown branches that do not want to stand
Weighing down
Bending.
The earth seeps out through the crevices
With the broken shards that hurt
And pierce
A red oozing
A colour – that pains
The worm creeps in.
Nishi Pulugurtha is an academic, author and poet based in Kolkata. She is also he Secretary of the Intercultural Poetry and Performance Library (IPPL), Kolkata.
Survivors— Kavita Ratna
Crackling sounds
of sunflower stalks
underfoot,
green drained,
breathing in dry mud,
brittle corn husk,
scorching heat
untouched by the
giant wings of Quixote’s
windmills, surreal.
Criss cross of paths
obscured by heat
despair
in the air.
Spines held straight,
hands deftly
tying the niqab.
Framed within
kohl rimmed eyes
crinkling in farewell smiles,
feet rooted,
in warrior stance,
sheer grit,
to make it
through,
one day at a time.
Kavita Ratna is a children’s rights activist, poet and a theatre enthusiast. Her poems have been published in ‘The Kali’ Project, ‘a little book of serendipity’ and publications like Triveni Hakai India, Haiku in Action, the Scarlet Dragon, Five Fleas Itchy poetry, Stardust Haiku and The Cold Moon Journal. ‘Sea Glass’ is her anthology of poems.
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