Two Scenes

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 1.

A man reads the newspaper

as if his son would turn up

on page three. The chaiwala makes

a cutting, not because a half is any different

but because it is

just enough.

2.

The iron press is as big as her,

the coal as much as her,

the crumpled elephants embroidered

are straightened out. Her daughter in the back,

as old as me but not as young,

puts her mirror in the deepest parts

of the wooden trunk

like she knows her purpose

is to cause reflections; the reflections

here to stay; she to go

with the only assurance that her mirror

is safe from the stranger.

~Ajay
20/3/19

seaboyman ~ poetryWhere stories live. Discover now