Caged Cacophony
By Divya Ramesh
Water hits the sink in rocks
thud thud thud thud thud thud thud
a clatter of metal spoons stand
head down in stagnant pools
drowned in dirt with their feet up
Shots are fired! Cars squeal
strings from a viola convene slow
over expletives through a pepper mill
a broken record of black lives
a beloved friend cries in the shower
feeling the warmth crawl down her legs
following her life’s blood to a bloody drain
a thousand miles away
away away… away… away…
the echoes miscarry over land and sea
iron clangs against steel
bang bang bang ba-bang bang
stainless kitchen explosions
lunch is served on a platter of craters
dinner follows in broken canon
porcelain plates screech soprano
fragile and fast
like unused chalk
like frantic indoor talk
news channels loudly banned
still their chants pervade
newspapers kept for obituaries
both recycled from the earth
fans spin out summer air
stale, vacuous, noxious
the clock talks constantly
a mindless multitude
the noise arrives in a horde
nails scrape the door
I am blind, and breathless
freeze your banana bread
poke a hole in my bubble
I am cracking on the edge.
Divya Ramesh is a poet and ecologist currently based in Madras. When she’s not outside observing desert jirds and wintering birds, she searches for them in the written word.
