Lingering Winter
I
The cold
doesn't swallow itself
Sometimes the tongue feels foreign in my own mouth once it has been in someone else's
II
New Years slip in new ones
Old fingerprints stuck on them
I can't wriggle free of a hand too soon
I feel weird wanting to stay
No one stays long enough anymore
III
I don't remember being loved
as much as I remember being understood
Returning to a warm bed after a long winter
Unkempt litter of stale passion
Lovers have left the room but love didn't
IV
I boil flowers and drink them alone
A flowery sweet language is an ambitious dream
But how do I write about a garden
With a graveyard in my mouth
Like flowers die every day and there's no mourning
No funeral of ordinary deaths
V
Dreams flow like drying rivers
Less staying power
Corrode, implode or thrown at crossroads
An expensive lust to settle down
Looking like a shambled run
VI
Each sunrise is a new day
Moon overstays even after the sun has occupied her space
Like life, seasons are never empty clear
A transit of moving stars
Departures in bits
Overlapping remains of the days.
About the artist:
I am Anushree Gogirwar, an animator and Illustrator. I am mildly obsessed with coffee and love telling stories. I find joy in small things around me from the rumbling of leaves to sunlight on cold cloudy days and try my best to bring those small joys in my work as well. You can follow me on Instagram @anushree.gogirwar
About the poet:
Aishwarya is a writer who loves color yellow, old monuments, books and documenting history of all kinds. You can read some of my work here: https://aishwaryashrivastav.journoportfolio.com or follow her on Instagram for poems and her future work at @cosmo_rani