Artwork by Mohita Garg
On Winters
on winters, i want to write about love
one that creeps softly between my toes
settles under my skin, makes mosaics with slanting rays
on winters, i want to write of words without a name,
of feelings and phosphenes taking the shape of dried aamloki popped
intermittently, between reading lines and reading between the lines
of that time when you said that this city with its peeling wall paint and baring bricks
are not the same as baring your soul without trepidation under a sky with lost stars
and constellations that i found drawn on the back of a book with yellowing pages or
was it a map?
on winters, i want to go looking for an address in a lane where bright shimul flowers
sprawl with their radiance on Dol, i want to tuck their remembrances between
the folds of the saree i wore that one time while our fingers danced like fireflies
on winters, i revisit old songs and perfumes to snatch a few whirlwinds and embers of
old flames and old habits that I want to discard
without a trace on some days when winter seeps in through the cracks of my forlorn mornings i wonder
if at all my silence has its own manuscript, if it is a language that you can feel before you
read, or by then i would have lost the will to translate
on winters, i think of fruit cakes and the cracked spines of old books with spotted pages i wanted to write about love and yet
look at what i ended up writing about instead
About the poet:
Gargi Samanta is an editor at Orient BlackSwan, based in Hyderabad. While her profession keeps her on her toes, she finds languid moments to devote to her many flighty interests, one of them being poetry. She writes in English, and sometimes in Bengali, about insignificant moments and abrupt fancies that are mostly overlooked in everyday life. You can find her on Instagram @the_procrastinating_wallflower and @nuts.and.crochets
About the artist:
Mohita Garg is a creative enthusiast and fashion stylist by profession. She has explored various styles through different materials and mediums and she is always on the lookout to try something new. Self-taught, Mohita began painting as a means of dealing with her inner turmoil caused by a near death experience. Her art reflects her dreams, her appreciation for the ordinary and her struggles and hopes. Art to her is conversation with the self. You can find her on Instagram @mohita.art