Framed Mesh

By Antara Mukherjee

FRAMED MESH 

The rasp of sand on sieve,
flipping urgency 
in rice grains on heat, 
an entourage to the jangle 
of her dozen green translucent dreams 
sold to her at the village fair 
wafting of love
through hordes 
in sherwanis and seheras alike 
matched with mannequin reds 
conceding to a horoscoped fate 

indistinguishable 

like the men in her new home, 
who take turns 
to unveil her at nights  
distributed even 
by the hypostyles 
of power and precedence, 
polyandrous as Pandavas 
fading in the daylight 
that ripens guavas, pickles, needlework 
in the barefoot corridors 
while the granular language of being 
falls through 
her framed mesh 
—the penury of silence.

 Antara Mukherjee’s poems and stories have appeared in Kitaab, Sahitya Akademi, Muse India, The Chakkar, Joao-Roque Literary Journal, Usawa Literary Review, The Chakkar, The Alipore Post and Verse of Silence among others. 

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