Homecoming
There are days you
smell of
sad white linen and
aftershave
and I let you brush off
cobwebs from
my back and
cigarette stubs
from my
navel
… and you
drown yourself, in
drunken whiffs of
long withered buttercup
breasts, and
smoldered
sea-salt smiles
There are days I
toss, mustard
seeds and lima
beans, my
cluttered beads
of rosary
and wonder why
someone with a
smile like
dawn
breaking open
would drift to sleep, to
paltry thighs, and
purplish
skin
There are days our
tiny porch lies
strewn with flaming
leaves of Chinar
and you gently
blow them snowflakes
off my sweatcaked
sleeping, forehead
and you let me
lie, amongst
solitary chirps
of homecoming
swallows, gathering
straw
wishing I knew.
Previously published on: Poems by Ritoshree Chatterjee with Illustrations from Subarnarekha Pal — Plato’s Caves online (wordpress.com)
