By Lina Krishnan
The Despatch Table
That held
Keys
A hat or two
A book for metro rides Letters to post
Some harvest for a neighbour
Now houses
A sanitizer
Surgical spirit
Cotton
Cloth masks
A new world in 36 inches
Unplugged Moon
When the white noise
Of the virtual world dies down
A song emerges
I listen to the sounds of the night
And hold the dark between finger and thumb
What quality of enchantment lies here?
In this sudden hush
In the moonlight that glides along the rooftops
And turns the tree silver
This tree, a dawn perch for all the birds in the universe
Is silent now, its branches stretched in repose
Like a tired woman
It too, seems glad to switch off
Locked Down Scribe
I feel like penning a note to a friend
And I will too. At least writing is not under curfew
But after that? The post office is open, I hear
I have to first convince that Cop at the Corner, though
That letters are of import too
I wish I were in Kerala, where they recognise
That books are necessary medicine even in a pandemic.
These exchanges of thoughts and ideas, are what keep us going
When we cannot go anywhere
It’s become like those WWII signboards
“Is your journey really necessary?”
I haven’t been to the bank or the chemist in six weeks
Letters are definitely an indulgence, even for poets
Who consider them necessary coinage
So I will keep my notes to myself
And collect them in a cloth bag
Till, one day, my friends and folks
Find them at the door
Will they take them in, though?
I wonder!
As the world turns, writing and drawing have been my tools to retain sanity and energy. Here are three recent poems.
Thanks for reading, Tabish Nawaz. It’s hard to imagine anything without books. Ranjit thanks again. Karuna, hello after ages 🙂
Thank you Tabish, Ranjit for your insightful comments. Karuna, hello after ages 🙂
Eva-Marie Mergahrt sent me the link to these timely poems. Keep writing and reading.
Suzie, thank you so much! Eva’s an inspiration.
Whaooooh Lina, didn’t know you were a poet too. Bravo, keep it up.
Truly relevant and incisive of the turn to a different world.
‘That books are necessary medicine even in a pandemic’ – this is well-put. I cannot imagine convalescing without books.