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The Smell

A sharp social commentary by Saumya, in this poem, exclusively for Different Truths.

The noxious smell out of the window
makes me subconscious,
When I walk forward to take some steps –
Something stops me utterly vicious.

This smell comes from every space,
This all-pervasive challenge us,
laughs at us, at our defencelessness –
Creeps into body to steal all gladness.

It is a smell of self-love,
making us all crippled
to do something for others-
but we, dummies, actually don’t differ.

The world drowned in it, splashing,
The people playing the blame-game,
Seems whatever steps we take-
It will, more or less, remain all the same.

Photo from the Internet

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Saumya Rajan
Currently working as Regional Director, NIOS, MHRD, GoI, Saumya, a DPhil in English Literature from Allahabad University, is trained in incorporating Gender Concerns in Public Policy from the Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi and certified in Global Diplomacy in the Modern World from the University of London & SOAS, University of London. Her published books are Common Shadows (USA), and New World Order of Postmodernism in the Plays of Harold Pinter, (India).
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