Flashback, flash forward

By Maya Sharma Sriram

The lost of Gnosticism by Darwin Leon

Memories of sultry summer days

Filled with mangoes and mountain getaways.

Books devoured by choice, long evening walks

Stay still. A trapped dust mote

Shimmering in the afternoon sunbeam

Hanging by nothingness.

Now we rush about like hamsters in a cage

Riding our wheel of cooking, cleaning

Staying alive

And nibbling at the crumbs

Of free shows and movies,

thrown at us, like games for Fools,

to forget that demon marauding outdoors.

We are locked in an eerie suspended animation-

Any minute our clocks will strike thirteen.

Truth running out of time by Darwin Leon

Maya Sharma Sriram is the author of ‘Bitch Goddess for Dummies’ and winner of the 2010 Elle Fiction Award. Her short stories and poetry have been widely published in magazines and journals. Read her writing here: http://mayasharmasriram.blogspot.com/