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Poetry

To Do list & Morna

To-do List: Today I will fall out of love with you. I’ll sweep out the motes of dust that clung to your feet. Each speck a single story, of your worldly being. I’ll climb ladders for the distant corners, to clear out limp cobwebs of words, whispered and strung in secret — prose patterns of our desire. I’ll pick out tea leaves caught in the sieve, filtering out sweet and twilit memories. A steel scrubber for the grimy pits of pots, dredging out the darkness of difficult days. I’ll dig out from under my nails, the memory of your skin. Make sure to clean behind my ears, the salt of your lips. I’ll iron out the creases of your smile, and allow my heart to ache for a while. Stretch out my fingers in vain, and tremble for your touch. I’ll cap love off with a shot of whiskey. A quick fix for the spirit. A cinder for my belly. A reminder to never quit it. MORNA The Cape Verdeans call it their national music A balm for the dis-ease of seafaring journeys. Destined as they are, these archipelagic folk, to grow roots in stormy waters. The lips of waves carry these drawn out sighs, a thousand and more exhalations. The ocean laps up these lamentations. Swayed as she is by their mournful preoccupations. It is this suadade that breaks upon our calloused feet, tempting us to wade and wallow deep. And we dive in — hungry as we are for borrowed emotion.

By Himani Sood

Himani Sood is a middle-school Humanities teacher currently residing in Mumbai, India. From a young age, Himani has found cathartic relief in writing in a myriad of forms, ranging to the more austere conventions of academic papers (which, she wishes to add, she happily disobeyed) to a number of comedic school productions. These poems mark a return to an art form she long-neglected — it is an attempt to connect with a long-stifled inner voice. 

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