Two Poems by Nidhi Agrawal

 

INFIDELITY

 

On morose evenings- when the Sun sets and twilight falls- There are wood logs, laughter scorching inside the rings-flowers combusting between bodies transcending to fly high-And, falling into the water-Perhaps water’s generosity has always been a sweet temptation for fire. Sacks of muscles & bones burn in their own elements-longing for love-moaning for reconciliation – repenting their infidelity to themselves and some gathering air to be brushed off the verdicts on the wooden pulp.

 

 

BARD OF BLOOD

 

On the battlefield -

The foetus sinks into the Dead Sea, between their Mother’s cold legs. Do they train mothers to build a bard of blood ceasing the Earth from quaffing their children?

 

It’s an unbearable spectacle -

Her blood ≤/≥ His blood/melting into the ground contaminated with dreams of a new home/perhaps ignited by Hope/now assassinated with shades of nails and coffins.

 

Homicide without hunger –

The child says, “I am not hungry, filled with gunpowder up to the neck”. A puny bird flew out of the cage, and his master sent him back, “Go back to your world and don't tell your mate what you have seen here.”

Nidhi Agrawal, who grew up in India, focuses on issues of emotional and physical trauma in her poetry. She strongly believes that poetry is a source of joy, pain, and wonder—a tool that keeps her going in life—and is driven by the intense physical and emotional trauma she encountered through her medical condition.

Nidhi’s writings have been featured by Laurel Review, Altadena Libraries, University of North Dakota, Project Muse sponsored by John Hopkins University, Hobart Books, Writing Center at Washtenaw Community College (WCC), University of Illinois at Chicago, BYU College of Humanities and the Department of English, The University of Pennsylvania, Quadrant Australia, University of California, Riverside, Chicago School of Arts, Lewis Clark State College’s literary journal, St. Francisco University, Xavier Review Press, California State Poetry Society, The University of Tennessee, Chronogram Magazine, Letters (Yale University), Setu Journal, South Asian Today, Indian Periodical, Garland Magazine, Muse India, etc. She is the author of 'Confluence' and an esteemed contributor to the 'Suicide Volume 2 Poetry Collection'.