BY HIMANSHU THAKUR
I am a shoulder
And I get tired when you lean on me too long
I chose not to be numb
So, I feel your weight in full
Tell me, do you think
You can let this shoulder,
Grown strong and heavy,
Lean on you?
Won’t you be crushed?
What do you know of my exhaustion,
My cruelty, and my sadness?
I am a bottomless sack
Knit into human skin
You pour your words into me
I listen, I listen well
I make room for you in my infinity
Could you bear to let this sack
Topple over for a moment?
Or would you cut me in the middle
To fill me with more words, your words?
But I see I’ve made you blink
You open your eyes but
You’ve already come too close
To a hunched-over tree and its fruit
It hangs low and you pluck
I finally see the reflection in your eyes
And answer for myself if they ever saw
My roots, my soil… or my scars
But no matter
This is not your first time
Or my last
I can already feel within
How this piercing pain is just
The needle, stitching and weaving,
The tapestry of my being
In no time I become overfull again
I laugh, I jump, I cry
And I look for you
And I want to give…
But you are gone
Gone to find the next pinprick in my soul
So I can be your need
And nothing more
So look, read, relish, die
For here I give away
My treasure and my sadness
Here is my joy
My wisdom, my grief, my cruelty
Here is my soul
Here is my art.