Tag: Nagaland University

What if I uproot you?

If I uproot you from my heart,
I would have spare breath to
squander among the babel of crows
that swaddles this wayward house. 
I would have space to house abandoned
love songs that have been sleeping
in the mouths of robins.
I could take in the dead-silence
that arrives at the end of
a long day with a hard kiss, 
I would have room to shelter 
uncompanionable poems like this one
that prickle with vulgar melancholia,
I could describe every regret with digestible
verbs without having to blame
it on my foibles…
     I could break tradition – 
     speak my mind, get worked up,
     pick the choicest meat from the table  
     and hold it up as a homage to forgotten deities
     all in the presence of outraged men,
     without breathing in your scent -
     I could do all this and not allow
     anger to walk into our world but - 

Of what use is a republic,
even if it’s a republic of one,
if there is nothing inside of
       us.