Recline by Mehul Rawat
Raise your eyes
Watch the moon rise
From your verandah
Let the musty air out
Breathe the breeze in
Let the evening fall like dew
Over and around you
The jungle-fowl
The night owl
The wolf howl
And the cricket and the katydid
Nature's orchestra
Put your burden down
Take a pause
Breathe-
You'll be fine-
Recline.
My weary bones still remember
Like it happened yesterday
The way your eyes crinkle
Before your lips twitch into a smile
The way your toes tangle into mine
Every night of that long winter
How I stayed up
Trying to gauge meaning from your sleeptalk
We were always running out of time
Reluctantly giving in to our weary eyes
I have no memory
Of our last kiss
There's no advice in the world
To heal from the loss of you
-C
Some wounds don't heal
So you cover them up
In lavish, embellished silk
And with a luxuriant swirl of your surcoat
You take your throne
And hold courts
Impose unsolicited advice
Pronounce verdicts
On other battle scars
Aid them
Or punish them
As you deem them worthy
While you remain the untouched Queen
Living in a glass palace
Draped in fur and cashmere
Against the freezing storm
Little do they know
My Queen of trick or treat
That under your robes
Is your cold armour
That under all the grandeur
Are wounds that you nurture
And keep alive to feel free
That you sleep with a dagger
Under your pillow
And drown your aches
In spirits and merriment
Do they know
That you have demons that trap you
In high towers each night?
Do they know they made you
Eat your heart for breakfast?
-a haiku by Meghna Prakash
Let them eat hate by Veen
The news brews a tea of rancour to sit on your knee
And simmer discontent like dark circles to spread
From below your eyes till all is black with dread,
With the deep fake pancakes you're dying to eat
Wrapped with spiteful butter and prejudiced bread.
Sectarian breakfasts just start the day
And keep you going the streaming coffees of hate,
Bilious lunches with endless servings laid
And buffets of bigotry for dinners are paid
To down with conspiracy desserts to treat
Before you return to the ancient advice to sleep
"Eat well, for you become what you eat".
Spring Cleaning for the Home (& Heart) by Eshna Sharma
i.
throw all your duvets, towels,
linens and underwear
into the washer- a capful of
detergent, too, por favor
This will remove all
lint and grime and also
the scent of their perfume,
once and all.
ii.
if your glass surfaces
are beginning to look cloudy,
worry not! Vinegar and water
ought to do the trick.
This works for your vision, too.
Take a sip everytime you think of them,
it is bitter but quite
effective.
iii.
open your drawers
throw out all grocery bills, brochures
and expired pedicure vouchers, you do not need them anymore.
we advise a similar treatment for your phone's gallery, too—
delete their number,
and all of their photos, you do not
need them anymore.
iv.
if your house still
looks a bit drab,
buy some houseplants
for a peppy new look.
Give them water,
sunlight, fresh air.
Care for them gently, and
see, for once, that love can be
noiseless
and soft,
and frankly, quite undemanding.
v.
in the evening
when you sit down in a house
sparklingly clean, and
painfully empty,
do not open another wine bottle
and try to drink your sorrow away.
Instead,
call your mother, remember the time
when you were fourteen and still
living in your parents' house.
Ask her
why she would turn the house
upside-down every spring,
scrubbing, soaping, and shouting
vacuums and dustpans and bleach
the general Sunday morning cacophony.
Why, dear, she will reply,
do you ever welcome the summer
in a house that reeks of wintertime?
Every time life gives you
A chance to be clever,
Be kind instead.