Family rift

Lavanya Arora

Being a child of their youngest                 often means you’re rid of the gift
Of grandparents                                        their image only the golden image
Carrion being carried by a corvid                 across the kerfuffle of caravans
You grow up well-fed on fables                                               mythologising
Is better than coveting as a means to remember                   we were taught
Popeye was Punjabi                                                       Dadaji was Hanuman
Dhai kilo ke haath carrying the mountain                              of displacement
Across putrid borders                                without the promise of sanjeevani
Saving families takes Icarian efforts                 before actually ever reaching
The dying bit                     eventually shrouds             fruits, sprouts, leaves
The living critical of trust                                                      we were taught
Care on a rickety carousel after watching          Maruti 800s defy gravity by
those who couldn’t pronounce                        centrifugal without stumbling
Our scissor-tongues run empty                    on secondhand embarrassment
Irrigating weeds as much as wheat           in farms of our insipid inheritance
Every winter we grow weaker                                   spinach our iron belief

Lavanya Arora (they/he) is an independent researcher and writer from Uttarakhand, currently residing in Bengaluru, India. Their literary work has found a home in Frontier Poetry, Thimble Literary, Vagabond City, and elsewhere. They dream of extensive dinner dates with fictional characters while (begrudgingly) editing their debut novel.

Instagram: @lavaurora