Poignant, melancholic poems by Vinita – exclusively for Different Truths.

1.
Between Chaukhambha and Nanda Devi,
grow the hardy stencils of a winter shrub –  
flowers drooping with frost
thorns upright in resilience.
Happiness transient
Pain immovable.
 
2.
In the bower of pear blossoms,
birds chirp
delicately outlined
against the white, long-lashed flowers,
each bloom a morning in itself.
How will I ever leave this
and return to a dank, rubbery city?
 
3.
From the weather-beaten mud track
we look up at the mountains;
its steadfast benevolence
a spine for all things fragile.
As we commence our climb
our footsteps wobble
on loose stones
Sage-like, the peaks
watch us like a thought.

 
4.
The last vulture
of my generation is gone.
Hooked ivory beak
three-metre wingspan
wing covert – gone.
Diclofenac poisoning.
The sun must be crazy
to pour light
on their carcasses.

5.
She’s crossed borders
flown over cracked partition-earth
drilled colours into calyxes.
In her light bag of bones
she carries more conviction
than all our heavy flesh,
putrid with divides.

Picture design by Anumita Roy

Vinita Agrawal

Vinita is the author of five books of poems. Her latest collection, The Natural Language of Grief, is the winner of the Proverse Prize 2021. She is the poetry editor of Usawa. She is on the Advisory Board of the Tagore Literary Prize. She is also a part of various initiatives for social justice, like G100 and WICCI.