swifts  &  s l o w s · a quarterly of crisscrossings

walnut seasons and soliloquies
Sushma A. Singh

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Heft of my forefathers

I step into a sleepy sward
shuffling dense grass tufts,

their spines flexing fanlike under
the arch of my feet on either side

of the groove I carve along.The sun
flicks my skin, its spalled warmth

the taste of scioned meadows .Lotus
pink flecks of river silt float as gilded

beads coursing my veins. A cornucopia
of walnut seasons and soliloquies

colors my compositions, tethered to snow
speckled fleece of the dales,with sacred

wafts of a fervent quill aquiver in my
sway.

An undying halo

It is Lohri and as always we ring the freshly birthed flame like petals whorling carpel, mustering our collective aura to swell in the promise of mustard whiffs and mounting grains. A gust of night breeze zests the fire, its barbed birl stinging our bones.To placate the elements, nuts and seeds are offered to the surging vibrance, crackle of their coats in my ears like psalms chanting open saffron shoots of a procrastinating horizon. We partake of the celebratory platter , sesame and sweet serendipity brimming the nook . A season bends.

winter chill
i press harder
on the rolling pin *

footnote:
Lohri is a popular harvest festival celebrated on Jan 13 in North India , marking  the passing of winter.

* previously published in the haiku journal The Heron’s Nest

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Sushma A. Singh is an orthodontist from India who published her debut book of short stories in 2014. Thereafter she took to poetry writing. Her work has been published in Tint journal, Twelve Mile Review, Brushfire literature and Arts journal, Stonecoast review, Dash journal, Library love letter,  Dime Show, Better than Starbucks and numerous haiku journals including Red moon anthology.