Poems by Pritha Kejriwal

 

All that unfinished business of love…

Like a cardigan, half sewn

Ending in scraggy tendrils of wool

 

Like a spider’s web, half woven

Ending in broken, hanging gossamer threads

 

Like an uprooted plant

Ending in muddy rootlets

 

Like an unfinished song

Ending in half notes

 

Like an unfinished life

Ending in death

 

Like all that weight

Ending in a sudden lightness

 

Like all that meaning

Ending in a silly vagueness

 

Like a tremendous swell of a wave

Ending in a crash

 

Like all that precipitate

Ending in a poem.

 _______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Corners

A dark warm corner

Lit only by a single bulb

A corner to recite poetry

 

Two white walls

A small window that lets in a branch of Gulmohar

A corner to read Ghalib and Meer

 

A sand dune

A single star shining above

A corner to listen to music

 

A boat

Lilting, blue waves underneath

A corner to think

 

Underneath a tree

The fragrance of oranges

A corner to remember

 

In between two pages

Of Neruda’s memoirs

A corner to heal

 

On a train

Rice fields rushing past

A corner to make notes

 

A table of wood

A glass of red wine and two fruits

A corner to be glad

 

A shared laughter

Two pairs of eyes, one blue gray, one green

A corner to hold hands

 

Under a white quilt

A soft white pillow

A corner to shed tears

 

An armrest

A small hand on a soft cheek

A corner to dream

 

In your arms

Sound of heartbeats

A corner to melt

 

A house in the hills

Fearless purple skies

A corner to love

 

In between two thoughts

One sad, one hopeful

A corner to live.

 _______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Two poets

It’s so lonely, writing a poem

Even lonelier to read poems of others

 

Its one thing to hear the pangs of one’s own heart

Quite another to fathom another’s

 

My looking out of the window at the gulmohar might be a complex

Mish mash of happy-sad-nostalgic longings

But this other gaze…at the dead tree outside her window

Seems infinitely more sadder

 

Sometimes I wish I could hold that hand

Secure it inside the warm folds of my own – although

They are quite tiny themselves

 

Perhaps, two poets could then look out of the window together

And write a happier song, of colourful hummingbirds

Fluttering their wings…



Pritha Kejriwal is the founder and editor of Kindle Magazine. Under her leadership the magazine has established itself as one of the leading torch-bearers of alternative journalism in the country, having won several awards, including the United Nations supported Laadli Award for gender sensitivity and the Aasra Award for excellence in media. She is also a poet, whose works have been published in various national and international journals. She is currently working on two collections of poetry, soon to be published.

1 Comment

  • Reply July 20, 2015

    Mukulita Ganguly

    Absolutely loved the poem named “Corners”. Could vividly imagine and feel each and every word. Bissfully swathed by corners close to the heart.

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