Departures by Aditya Shankar

The Custom House Morning Effect, by Claude Monet, 1882.

Departures

I can't stop talking about mother,

for example.  The way stray dogs

turn her eyes into a pool of fear,

and how at the doctor's, she reads

aloud without getting it right.

Probably fear is a text that you learn

to read better with each passing attempt.

 

It's like a river turning into a flood,

lonely in its seizure when amputee bridges

and wrecked boats lead nowhere

like allies in a losing battle – starvation is

a river without boys diving in summer.

 

And when it grows big, remember the

old man out on the sea, the sun hiding

at the tip of his harpoon, and all he tries

to read is the fear in his own eyes, as the

receding shoal of fish turn into

a station - one designed only for departures.


Aditya Shankar

Aditya Shankar is an Indian English poet and flash fiction writer living in Bangalore. His work has been published or is forthcoming in Dead Snakes, Synchronized Chaos, 101 words, Hour After Happy Hour Review, CC&D, ‘Purrfect’ Poetry, Beakful, Shot Glass Journal, Earthborne, Terracotta Typewriter, and Eastern Voices anthology, among others. He is the author of a poetry chapbook ‘After Seeing’ (2006) and a poetry collection ‘Party Poopers’ (2014).