I was born and raised under a
Upended gigantic dried flower
You may call it
A hut roofed with palm leaves.
As a meek child, I was unsuited to gravity
Like my ancestor said,
Ask questions you can be wiser and bigger than now.
So I met a beekeeper and asked him
What are you doing?
He replied like a flattering flipbook
I sent tablets for trees and other plants.
I got a feel of my chum
I turned little air into word
i.e thanks.
His smile guided me to go somewhere
I walked with a bag full of questions.
As usual in drought
It was the first equinox of the year
My granny served the evening sun with shrunken rind
You may call it
Directly baked tomatoes on fire and
Added with a pinch of salt through a small hole.
I met a blind person
Whose mouth was a dark museum
And asked him the same question
He gave me a reply made of half-bitter taste
Questioning is a forbidden thing
It is the process of splitting our tongue.
I walked and walked with questions
My foots smiled with blisters like pebbles
My shadow pretended like a dozen deadly animals
But none of them bark or moan.
My grandmother and grandpa passed away
I changed my foods
I changed my roads
No one painted my brain with a reply but
Now I am the symbol of ancient questions
Questioning feed my starvation
My body is filled with questions and
You can cross me with a mouth full of answers.
Finally, I will tell you one thing,
Mountains grow bigger and bigger because
They questioned all the day and
The sky answers with the raindrops
You can hear it
If you have wet ears.
Poovithal Umesh is a poet from Tamilnadu. His poetry collection ‘A Piece of Moonshine at Dinner’ is available on Amazon.
Featured image: Anirudh Thakur/ Unsplash