Mementos of Exile
Trivarna Hariharan
The shore at which
I once found you
tarred–– there now writhes
a pair of fallen eyeballs.
Watching them,
I am swamped by
a twig- red hunger
for the marbles a-
round which we would
ripple in a game of tic-
tac-
toe.
Do you remember?
Like us––
most of them were crumbed
into the cataracts
of a new land.
Where language
broils over the tongue
like a tulip’s
ripped thorns.
Saba, only these eyes
still wriggle to
cleanse us.
Tongue-cave the sand
with our childhood words.
Jaan.
jannat.
rooh.
How they squeal & squeal
for our return.
Like children aching
for the fête
their Abba
had promised them
in the park.
A crow’s eggs
even the crow
has abandoned.
A dream in which the body reclaims its fragmentation
Trivarna Hariharan
Severed–
my body is borne
to a temple
for resurrection.
The priest
breaths up a story
from the smoke
of a coal-lipped altar.
He explains:
a green-taloned bird
has grabbed you
by your braid.
You should’ve been
more careful of
where you were
heading.
Worn a veil,
closed your eyes,
freed your hair of
flowers.
I titter
under my veil,
secretly
liking this
story.
Playing along:
I tell him that
I split my foot
at a tree’s stump.
Fell unconscious
while drinking
well water.
But no narrative
ever fits completely–
frozen as
a worm hole
waiting for inhabitation.
What I don’t say, however is
how free my body feels
in this fever.
Staggering here–
smothered to redness.
My body showing like
the swollen bust
of an oak.
What I want to say is
I will never come back.
Father,
don’t wrap me
into a body.
There was no witch-bird,
no tree––
I did it of my own knowing.
I axed myself of my own
knowing.
about the writer
Trivarna Hariharan is a writer and pianist based in India. She has studied English Literature at Delhi University, and the University of Cambridge. A Pushcart-prize and Orison Anthology nominee - her recent poems are published or forthcoming in Duende, Entropy, Stirring, Atticus Review, Front Porch, Rogue Agent, The Shore, and others. She has authored two collections of poetry - Letters Never Sent (Writers Workshop Kolkata, 2017) and There Was Once A River Here (Les Editions du Zaporogue, 2018). Besides writing - she has received certificates of distinction in Electronic Keyboard from Trinity College, London. You can read more of her work at trivarnahariharan.com.