Revisions
Before the poet was a poet
nothing was reworked:
not the smudge of ink on twelve sets of clothes
not the fearsome top berth on the train
not a room full of boxes and dull windows
not the cat that left its kittens and afterbirth in a pair of jeans
not doubt.
Before the poet was a poet
everything had a place:
six years were six years ……… parallel lines followed rules
like obedient children
[the Dewey Decimal System]
………………………………………………..homes remained where they’d
been left.
Before the poet was a poet
many things went unseen:
clouds sometimes wheedled a ray out of the sun parents kept
…… photographs under their
pillows letters never said everything they wanted to lectures
…… were interrupted by a
commotion of leaves every step was upon a blind spot.
by Sridala Swami
from Escape Artist
Aleph Book Co., New Delhi, 2014