The Amusement Park
Merry-go-round,
Blue toes & cereal skin,
My breakfast heart beats in amusement;
I steal away from yellow teeth & sobbing laughter.
A rollercoaster tongue,
She speaks in reds & oranges
Imitating sunsets drowning behind the
Earth's elbows;
I speak of her as though she were a twin,
A detached limb - a wound that doesn't clot
The blood in my ink.
Maple syrup whines,
Draped in cotton candy smiles
My caramel body was never a temple;
It was always a fancy notebook, emptied behind an iceberg of hesitation.
Trench coat diaries,
Voices bubble inside my mother's beige shawl;
The twists in the cloth tighten around her bosom,
I breathe a metallic rebellion inside her throat.
Outside my window, a pigeon cooes in low volumes of warmth. It's probably a song my ears are not used to. Mother peddles into the kitchen stove, swimming in a teacup of culinary depression.
It snows,
The fire goes out
In a hall of mirrors, I find my worst sins;
They look like the twists in my mother's stupid shawl,
It tightens around my bosom, around my breakfast heart that I heard this morning,
Before the world froze into a moment of thrill, a line from some lost poem wrapped in silk lies and wintery whimpers.
About the poet:
Nameera Anjum is a final year student of Political Science, based in Jaipur. Her work has appeared in a number of publications such as The Kali Project, Free Verse Revolution literary magazine, Spillwords Press, Eve Poetry Group and the Calliope Script. You can read more of her on Instagram @nameeraeverafter.
About the artist: My name is Atreyee and I am a self taught illustrator and a teacher. I started doing watercolour illustrations during the first lockdown. It was a way to connect with my inner child,I acknowledge feelings, emotions, thoughts and needs of my child self through art.Most of what i draw is mundane memories of my childhood, like waking up early, getting a cup of tea like the adults in the house and seeing birds chirping outside or looking at bugs in our garden, discovering a grasshopper as big as your hand or napping in a cozy armchair.In the 90’s there were a lot of children’s books from Russia and China translated in Bengali filled with illustrations done by amazing artists,a Bengali bi monthly magazine called Anondomela and hand drawn animations on tv. They all have influenced my art style. You can find me on IG @_eeyerta