The City Is A Festering Wound: Three poems by Samiksha Ransom
Photo: Karan Madhok
‘the city is a lacerated arm / hanging loose from a plaster / a red flag made of dupatta’
Where the city went
I
early in the day
the city opens up like a bud
and becomes a marigold
next
the city becomes a sitar
and thrums, sizzles, ebbs
at evenings,
the city is a coral gossamer sari
whisked by the wind, fluid
at night, the city is a falsetto
a faint prayer sung at homes
a sober jingling of ghungroo
II
the city is small
like a hummingbird
like pistachio
inaccessible in maps;
people will often ask
where did the city go?
the city went to the lanes and by-lanes
to the ditches, under streetlights,
the city is in the streets
before you know it,
the city is at your door
ringing your bell.
*
Where the city went after the riots
I
the city becomes a combat zone
a dune of dead bodies
a heap of ash
the city is a lacerated arm
hanging loose from a plaster
a red flag made of dupatta
the city trembles
at night, the city can’t sleep
the city is a festering wound
for fourteen days
the city lies defunct
and turns rancid.
II
people will often ask
is the city gone?
never coming back?
no, the city is in a rage
the city is stretching
is already out of bed
the city is a young feline
the city purrs
hisses, snarls
once again
the city is in the streets
scaling your walls.
*
Where the city lives now
I
the city eases and ebbs
the city opens her fist
and displays a large palm
the city is soft, fleshy, pink
the city becomes a river
and begins to gurgle
the city finds her way
the city becomes a song
a force, a tale, a legend
the city begins to rise
the city is an idea
infiltrating the air.
II
people will often ask
is the city buried?
become a fossil?
no, it is emerging from the soil
like the roots of peepal
the city is filling up the earth
the city is a gliding hawk
rubbing against the sky
the city is about to pour
the city has been unleashed
is already at kranti.
the city is conquering the streets.
***
Samiksha Tulika Ransom is an Indian poet and writer. Her work has appeared in Tint Journal, EKL Review, Kitchen Sink Magazine, Drizzle Review, Verse of Silence, The Open Culture Collective, and more. Samiksha is also poetry editor for the borderline. She can be reached on Instagram @samiksha_ransom and Twitter: @SamikshaRansom.
