Homework

I had this twin.

I had this twin,
thin unseen,
with a weird walk,
or so it would seem.
‘He has no mind’,
people whispered,
but mother knew,
his just had a hole in it.

I had this twin
– a child in his teen,
and while we judged,
he watered the garden green.
He painted a bit on flowers,
and shooed away the bees,
and until I got back from school,
he would wait for me with the keys.

I had this twin
who hugged me at odd hours,
and helped mother during dinner,
after he had gifted her dandelion flowers.
He could not speak
so he would bow down,
and not get up
until she kept her frown.

I had this twin,
without pride and with remorse,
until he fell where I was jumping
while he pushed me away from the shore.
He thought that I would die,
while all it was was a dive,
so while he remains down submerged,
I’ll sleep a little less tonight.

– Saransh Gupta (Words of Wonder)

Photo Credits: Kristina Varaksina Photography

“There are flowers
in this world
that only grow
after the ground
above them burns.
Scientists say
that the fire sets
the earth aflame
with the birth of these
special flowers which
wouldn’t grow otherwise,
that even though the fire
seems to destroy
everything it touches,
it can also bring
new colors into this world.
What I am trying to say
is that healing hurts,
but so does forgiveness,
and sometimes it is worth it
to see yourself bloom”
— Pavana पवन ( reader’s submission)

Her

 

I donned my shades to block out the streetlights and the stars
Spent nights watching the embers at the tip of my tongue
Hating for nights on end, the idea of you
I looked at the spaces between my fingers and thought of you
Like a child pining over a toy
A fool wishing for the sweet release
Of death
I stood still, playing it all over in my mind
Can I rewrite us?

I miss your voice
I wonder if you think about the times
Over a cup of coffee watching the wind play with the leaves
Remembering your hair in the wind
Reminiscing you dancing in your heels, grooving
Hanging on your words, I fell, Drowning
in your eyes
Imagine you reading by the fireplace
with your hair tied up
Your glasses and the smile
I heard your laugh on that cold wintry night
And fell in love all over again
Did you ?
-Akshat

Incomplete

Took it and threw it inside the well in anxiety.
Water was the first thing I wanted that day,
Ropes slipped, untied.
A bucket floating aimlessly in the stagnant water.
A poem left incomplete, remained incomplete. Forever.

Ran like the crazy Archimedes on the streets to her gate.
A door half ajar, teasing me with its squeaking laughter.
She didn’t show up, again.
A poem left incomplete, remained incomplete. Forever.

Nothing pleases more than a cup of tea and a rusk toast on a sunny morning.
The wet side drowned like the titanic.
All I had was a piece, incomplete like my poem.
Incomplete forever.

– Vikalp Joshi (Words of Wonder)

Odd-Even

Because she was Different

It had only been a week since the passing of the bill, and most unluckily, she was the only female who had passed the entrance exam for the month. So there she was, the only female in the crawling Colombian army. She was not a bombshell to speak of. Everyone was aware of it, and yet we loved her, not because she was the only woman within twelve miles of the border, but because she was not a bombshell to speak of but an explosion that occurred every minute she happened to exist. She was a strong woman with the fire that made us want to protect her, not by winning wars, but by preventing them altogether.

– Saransh Gupta (Words of Wonder) (Diary of A Patriot’s Wife)

When I got to know all about a Wolf

Mother said-
“Beware my girl,
of men who come close
and of those who already are.”
I had been seven that day
when I had realized
that ours was a concrete jungle
and that there were wolves
and I was the deer.
That day my father held me,
and had whispered in my ear-
“Your mother is a wrong woman,
Beware Beware.”
And he did not touch me
like mother said wolves might
and that night I asked my mother,
which wolf I had to fight.

That night she said she loved me
and said I was like her
and said she could protect me
from those who wanted my fur.
She had hugged me a little tighter,
and I had felt her skin underneath.
She was warm
like a mother was,
and her lips had tasted funny.
“Taste me more” she had said
“and feed on me a little”.
She had been my first kiss that night
and since that morning,
I’ve known everything about a wolf.

– Saransh Gupta (Words of Wonder)

Not queen but a Warrior instead.

I had always wanted to be a queen when I was young.
Maybe the fantasies began when father called me his princess, or when I began to see my mother as the queen. She used to teach me the subjects each day after we had slept after the mid day meal. Strangely enough, she used to teach me less of the Sciences and more of Literature, after which my father would begin to focus on the Sciences. I have had a beautiful childhood to speak of, and as I grew up, I slowly began to noticethe other things that happened around me. I realized the queen was not allowed out of her castle, and that it was the king who fought all the battles for the nation. I realized it was the prince who chose his princess and it was not the other way round. That was when I decided to cut my hair short, less than the arm-length which my mother had. I decided I did not want to be the queen; I wanted to be the warrior instead.
– Saransh Gupta (Words of Wonder)

Sketch credits : Shiksha Jaiswal

Not a Prince but a Man with his nights and Half his Days

“The day when you’ve grown up,
a woman from a bud,
we’ll marry thee a prince”
the mother said like a stud.

“What if I don’t want one?”
The daughter asked now lost.
“Want thee the king,
now that’s an ambitious thought.”

“What if I love the Court Jester,
a smart, a wit, a funny,
and he love me back
with a hat that hides a bunny?”
“Then you’ll be mercy to a ruler,
in a home in winters chilled
and the day he be offended,
he’ll have your husband killed,
and your sons shall mourn for one,
and forget the loss on four,
by ten they’ll be angry,
and ask “mother, could you have married more”.

“And if I marry a king,
and I be the queen,
and I be one in hundred,
rarely on Tuesdays seen.
The king shall have no time,
and all I’ll have is gold,
and when the king be dead in battle,
I with it will be sold.
Consider the tales oh mother,
the queens are always the worst;
they have all gold and maids,
but for love it surely hurts.
I do not carve the gold
which equals me in my weights,
but all I’ll have is the person,
and his nights and half his days.”

– Saransh Gupta (Words of Wonder)