Dr. Manisha Mishra teaches at the Department of English, Rama Devi Women’s University, Bhubaneswar as Assistant Professor. Prior to this, she was an Assistant Professor of English at National Law University, Odisha (from 2009 to June 2018) where she taught Language, Literature and Films. Dr. Mishra is an alumnus of Hyderabad Central University, Manorama School of Communication, Kerala. She has published two books namely “The Red Stilettos and other poems” (2018) and “Reflections on Literary Trends and Films in India” (2018). International houses have published her monographs “Love in the Art of D.H Lawrence”(2010) and “The Miraculous, the Occult and the Phantasmal”(2010). She has published about 50 articles in The Times of India and The Indian Express on culture, health, lifestyle, society and youth. She is also a language trainer and writes travelogues, poems and short stories in English and Odia. Currently, she also writes features and movie reviews for Odishabytes.com as a guest columnist. Contact: itsmissmani@gmail.com
Special Collection: Creativity in the Time of the Pandemic 2020>>
NOT ME
Death beckons
I say it’s not me
It is his turn, her turn
The old man in the hospital
The woman in the Burkha
Unknown faces, distant places
Not me.
Cases rise ceaselessly
A bird on my window sill
Rain drops pit-pit patter
A knock on my door
I say it’s not me
Go find someone
Whose time has come.
Are you really looking for me?
Days pass, hoarding stuff
I wander aimlessly
Reminiscing my lived life
Is that all?
Unfulfilled dreams
Constipated hopes
Nauseous aspirations
Just go away!
It cannot be me.
SILENCE
The eerie silence
Interrupted often
By the chirping of birds
Sitting in isolation
A fruit bat visits me
When no one does
To taste the custard apple
In my garden.
Television sets honking
Have overtaken
The urgent blaring of vehicles
Zooming past the road
Across my balcony.
I can finally hear
The kajal-stained cuckoo
My niece imitates its song
Where were these melodies earlier?
Silence and contemplation
Reflection and perspective
Have come back
Into our lives.
TOUCH
Hugs disappeared
People embrace in trepidation
No longer a consolation touch
A shoulder to weep
You are now wary
To caress my hair.
You touch your mobile screen
Your fingers shivering
To feel my presence
Next to you.
I pensively wonder
Where were you
All these years!
You see me often
With a curious quest
About my well-being
From the Facebook window
I quietly wipe my eyes
Staring at your profile picture.
Will things ever be the same
If I am relieved
From this struggle of loneliness
Of my isolation ward.
Published on April 14, 2020. © Author.