Cutting Remarks
written by: Swati Moheet Agrawal
@MoheetSwati
Can’t write, can’t create,
she murmured melancholically, monotonously.
Those cutting remarks!
Her mind kept purging from its depths –
those words, scenes and memories:
It was a sweltering May morning,
the girls had all gone to the beach.
Mrs. Dixit sat and wrote stories by the rock,
she wrote and wrote with a pad on her knee.
Every now and then she looked over her spectacles
and smirked at little Tanya:
“there are rules to good writing,
give up on your silly dream,
you can’t write, you can’t create.”
Others jeered and heckled,
they all nodded in agreement.
A raucous laughter emanated from the crowd.
A belittled Tanya blushed till she couldn’t blush any redder,
scarlet with shame and embarrassment, she scurried for cover.
That evening,
Tanya resolved to be a writer par excellence,
she honed her skills, she burned the midnight oil,
she began filling the uncompromising pages of her book,
day after day, night after night;
moving her pen hither and thither,
baring her soul on paper, draft after draft.
She churned out an anthology of short stories,
stories so delicious, it won awards and accolades,
rave reviews from readers…
Those cutting remarks!
How they sparked a fire in her; how they led her to herself,
she blushed until she couldn’t blush any redder,
scarlet with humility and gratitude, she reveled in her triumphs.
- Cutting Remarks - April 9, 2021
