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[contributor]Samreen Sajeda[/contributor]
[title]Casualties and Other Poems[/title]
[num]4[/num]
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Casualties
I was eating sabudana wada
When the news flashed
22 dead, 27injured
At Elphinstone Road Prabhadevi
My friend would tell me the next day,
His live account—
Scattered shoe stamps
Folded faces
Shrieking
Locked bodies
Sinking
As in quick sand
The news flashed
32 dead, 37 injured
Taking a large bite,
I quickly gulped down tea;
Had to reach office on time.
***
Untitled
I’ve consciously
Stopped
Reading news.
My room is my world
(but for how long?)
The cocoon crumples
As political guns
Fire
Tearing open
Unborn butterflies.
***
An Accident
grasshopper, locked
in the dead beak, quivers—
the fan whirls in indifference.
***
In Exile
A song disrupted—
Lyrics slowly slip away
Word after word…
Over a thousand winters
Leaving behind an immortal tune
Quivering
In the heart
Trapped
Behind sealed lips.
***
Prisoner’s Visiting Hour
family of screeching
parrots— one captive
the rest, free.
[credit]Image courtesy: Jayeti Bhattacharya, The Mason’s Cup, 2018[/credit]
[author]Samreen Sajeda is currently pursuing an MA in English Literature from the University of Mumbai. Her poems have been published in Muse India, the Indian Cultural Forum and in the Anthology of Poetry India. [/author]
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