Postcard

This is another such day–hot, sultry, I watch
the summer palette from my window, the sun beating down with a vengeance, the
streets, buildings, parks turning to a blinding gold, the fiery clusters of krishnachuras
dazzling against the sky-blaze.
The thirst of the birds fills the air.
On some days, I cook.
Masoor dal with raw mangoes and rice is still my favorite 
for lunch. Summer spreads in my mouth, I slurp.
The hours are slow, heavy, weighing me down. As the color of the day changes and
dusk settles in, I go for a short walk, stopping by stalls to buy something or the other.
Evenings are jasmine-laden.
Some potted mogras on the balcony are my present love.
Whenever I water them, they soak up and grow 
thick with promise–the way I used to be.
Of late I have been going through old things:
books, trinkets, letters, cards, digging into burrowed time.
The musty smell of the gathered moments break into a Sufi whirling around me 
and I realize that everything in life is an eternity of a circle.
Hence this postcard to tell you, that I believe in remains 
of dreams–meeting you and the fireflies.

*
masoor dal - a kind of lentil
krishnachura - gulmohor or royal poinciana

Mallika Bhaumik is a widely published poet with two poetry books. Her work has been published in several publications such as Cafe Dissensus, Harbringer Asylum, Get Bengal, Shot Glass Journal, In Parenthese Journal, Kitaab, The Bengaluru Review, Madras Courier, The Grey Sparrow Journal, and The Alipore Post, to name a few. Her first book, Echoes by Authorspress, won the Reuel International Award for Best Debut book in 2018. Her second book, How not to remember, was published by Hawakal Publisher in 2019. She was also a nominee for the Pushcart Prize for poetry in 2019. Bhaumik lives and writes from Kolkata, India.

Artwork by Abdi Ambari