Of memory

O

Poem : Asiya Naqvi

I watched it from a distance though
It was connected to me.

It gazed, ogled, snapped and stared-

With ascending sun, it shattered
With darkening night, it sharpened.

I smelled it from distance and yet it was in me-
every fragment detached, isolated,
still entangled in me.

I puked, perspired, sneezed, and bled
but inside me it grew
and clouded my brain.

With clinging restlessness, it ignited.

the sense lingered in me-
Itching, tickling, pinching and freezing.

the meaning,
as if  I heard  from a distance –
echoing in me.
It yelled, whimmed and whipped :

the nailed coffin
in which it died,

the detached soul
like which it swayed.

Asiya Naqvi writes in English, Hindi and Urdu. She can be contacted at aaasiya.naqvi@gmail.com.]

[The featured painting is  of Salvador Dali’s famous work, “Persistence of memory”.]

About the author

इन्द्रधनुष

जब समय और समाज इस तरह होते जाएँ, जैसे अभी हैं तो साहित्य ज़रूरी दवा है. इंद्रधनुष इस विस्तृत मरुस्थल में थोड़ी जगह हरी कर पाए, बचा पाए, नई बना पाए, इतनी ही आकांक्षा है.

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