Page 47 - Poems
P. 47
What stays when you switch off the sound?
*
unforeseen grace
a pregnant woman
stomach wrapped-safe
beneath her pallu
walking past
gleam
of steel
bench
riddled
with light
dude in flip-flops
and distressed jeans
impatient to be off
peering engine-ward
as if to make it move
by sheer will alone
and yet when it does
he switches mood
and arches languid
at the door reluctant
to let his flippered foot
lose contact
with the ground
lifting in and off
at the very last moment
his arms wide yawns
his fingertips barely
brushing the silver ribbing
above the door
the choreography
of bags
some men keep
their knapsacks
safe and snug
before them
pregnant men
with bulgy tums
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