Hoarders of memories
We start some festive cleaning
In the fall
Digging our memories
Deep into lofts and cabinets
Out tumble medical prescriptions
Of my father’s congestions
The out of range
Blood reports
The escalated bills
Remembrances are better of
With his music and books
I think aloud
A sibling cleans our first aid kid
Lamenting that so many are way past ‘Best before’ dates
“As long as it’s the medicines, not us
That have expired” I wryly nod
The grammar Nazi of a brother pipes up
‘Products expire, people die’
We are products all
Aren’t we?
Of these strange times
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The cleaning goes on
Spring cleaning brings its warmth
October cleaning
Brings its nip
____________________________________________________________
The safety net
I remember reading somewhere
How children were taught young
At the dining table, to be precise
That conversation must never be inane
I remember my grandfather mentioning
How some families fined their members
For small talk
My grandma qualified
That it applied only to the rich
Those who have to toil all day
Could ill afford time
To cultivate such skills
Discuss weather
They said
Only to help a fellowman
In the midst of flood
Or drought
I think of man today
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In his island
Marking himself ‘safe’
All the time
I bump into an ex
Awkwardly
At the market place
We speak of the missing November chill
About disturbances
From god forsaken directions
That bring unseasonal rains
Better such talk
Than all the kissing we could have done,
But didn’t
…..all the babies we could have made,
But didn’t
All the misunderstandings we could have cleared,
But didn’t
We don’t let the small talk cease
The guard doesn’t slip
It starts to rain
Taking our cues
We fumble for our umbrellas
(Vandana Kumar is a French teacher, recruitment consultant and poet in New Delhi, India. Her poems have been published in national and international websites like ‘Mad Swirl’, ‘Scarlet Leaf Review’, ‘North of Oxford’, ‘Grey Sparrow Journal’, ‘Lothlorien Poetry Journal’, ‘The Piker Press’, ‘The Writing Disorder’, ‘The Drabble’, ‘Bard & Prose’, ‘Dissident Voice’, ‘Halcyon Days’, ‘Founder’s favourites’, ‘W-Poesis’, ‘Borderless journal’, ‘Madras Courier’, A Turkish newspaper ‘Sungurlu’, Glomag etc. She has featured in literary journals like ‘Fine Lines’ and anthologies like ‘Harbinger Asylum’, ‘Kali Project’ (‘Kali Project’ is now in the ‘North Carolina Regional Library’), ‘But You Don't Look Sick’ etc. Indie Blu(e) Publishing featured her as one of their authors on their website. She is also a contributing author in the short stories anthology ‘Cocoon Stories: Imprints of Childhood’, published by Authorspress, India. Her cinema articles appear regularly in ‘Just-cinema’ and Daily Eye. She was a jury member for the ‘All India Poetry Competition’ organized by ‘Cocoa-Butter’ and also co-edited their debut print anthology that resulted from this competition.)
