“Loom” and other poems by Jahnavi Gogoi
Photo: Karan Madhok
Poetry by Jahnavi Gogoi: ‘Once more I shudder / at the call of a Bay Owl’
Loom
Back and forth the loom
welds the warp and weft
those furtive paramours
*
Mirroring
You and I like two halves
Of a Kopou in spring
Pulchritudinous
*Kopou, or Foxtail orchid, is the state flower of Assam. It’s renowned for its medicinal properties. All orchids are known to have perfect symmetry.
*
The Moon is an Eye of a Cyclops
Once more I shudder
at the call of a Bay Owl
we play cards laughing away
the hush that falls around us like rain
tap, tap, tap knocks the tree branch
against the window eager with stories
about the gorge, the peaks, and inclines
how the mountain formed
even at midnight it’s blue, so blue
as we turn the transistor knobs
searching for a station over the static
to play a nocturne
The darkness is feral, so mournful
a gust of wind like a tranquil breath
of the Bura Dangoria enters, stirring the drapes
and my vacillating heart into serene submission
*Bura Dangoria: A benevolent spirit clad in white riding a horse. He offers protection from evil spirits. He looks after the holy places of worship like namghars in Assam, and helps people find their way back home.
***
Jahnavi Gogoi is a poet who grew up amidst insurgency in Assam and lived to tell the tale. She is a writer of children’s fiction and a mother to an assertive seven-year-old daughter. Her debut book of poetry is titled Things I Told Myself. Her poetry has been published in Inssaei International, Academy of the Heart And Mind, Spillwords, Soul Connection by Guwahati Grand Poetry Festival, Mystic Aura, Indian Periodical and more. She can be found on Twitter: @jahnavigogoi2 and Instagram: @add_a_dash_of_words.
