US; THE WOUND by Nazia Kamali

US

Source: Etinnee Boulang

We met, we talked

Became friends over coffee

Long walks, interesting conversations

Heated debates, silly jokes

Studying together, sharing notes

This relation took varied course

Meeting in sweat pants, not worrying about the appearance

Chatting animatedly

Discussing topics that made no sense

And then

Sitting quietly, sharing the silence

Staring into oblivion

Taking delight in mere presence

Content with the absence of pretense.

THE WOUND

Source: Alice Alinari

You deepen my wound and then you cut through it,

You carve a path and now you slither across it.

The pain is you and the anecdote too.

The blood oozing out of it is you and the healing potion too.

When I make a move, what spills is you,

When I rest in peace, what settles is you.

With a light tread you trespasses my soul,

And this passage of yours makes me whole.

When a soul leaves a body, it is torn into two,

The male was you and now the female is too.

I am drenched in your fragrance

and my wound

wriggles at the thought,

If we were not meant to be, then it has lost

the battle so dearly fought.

Author Bio: Nazia is a research scholar of Gender and Literature. She has worked for local news journal Harbinger India for several years. Her work has been published online on Indus Women Writing, the Whorticulturalist as well as offline in anthologies by Cape Comorin Publishers, PCC Inscape and Other Worldly women Press.

Instagram: @naziakr