Two Poems

By Megha Sood

Insane “New” Normal

First Published in North of Oxford, Pandemic Issue 2020

Like a blind cave
brittle rib cage hosting the infection
an unwanted guest:
the virus opens its mouth
its glistening black teeth
in the dead of the night

devours everything
precious and beautiful
cleaves the life out of the soul
leaves you gasping;
with bated breath and a jarred mind

you are left alone
in a vacant mind
lying on the death bed
reminiscing the day love embraced you
around a summer bonfire

now loneliness bounces off
sepia-tinged walls
death draped in pristine
white sheets sitting
at the foot of the bed

scoops its share
masticating life
leaving you rotten
like an empty room with chipped off walls
forgotten and waiting for its due

vacant mind begets explanation
in the hollowness of the night
when the wheezing and choking
cleaves your soul
leaves you asunder

It rattles your mind
you struggle with the existential truth
as this insane “new normal” renders
dying alone a new meaning. 

Love, Interrupted

This unending cold silence during the pandemic, these moments of isolation has taken a shape around me. They sometimes appear as bright flashy texts on my phone screen as they light up my room in the middle of the night. I feel the proximity to you, your skin, and your love morphed and molded-in these small texts and emojis. Love needs no deciphering and yet here we are adding a thousand versions of hugs, surprise, and sadness to this unending dearth of pictorial symbols. Earlier, love was an indescribable feeling simmering in the depths of your soul, unable to be transcribed. A burning passion ignited by a fleeting sight or touch by your lover. Love, now, needs expression in its loudest form. Love comes boisterously as bright-colored emojis and texts; waiting to be read. Sometimes, I long for your deep stentorian voice of yours filling my soul and brimming me to the full but yet here again I wait for the sudden short sound on my phone in the middle of the night to look at the message saying you missed me the whole day emoting with a damn emoji.

Writing during the pandemic has been a great solace for me and at times has been cathartic. There was so much going on in the US in addition to the isolation along with the toxic Presidential elections and the protests around the country to support the Black Matter Lives. There have been numerous times where I sat down to give an output to my frustration and the plethora of emotions I was holding within. During this time, I also edited two anthologies and I could feel the same level of emotions brimming in the submissions I received.