The Former
written by: Sahendra Mallick
The former I
has been excavated
a dig site where
a mossy gravestone remains
I grazed its edges
and cut myself.
***
The recent past
It’s archival footage
grainy and soundless
a candle light
extinguished
by a deliberate draft
It almost seemed I forgot
the dialect
of my own joy.
It wasn’t sudden
but the slow erosion
of a coastline
small particles
carried away
on a tide so gentle
that I didn’t notice
…until I looked down
and saw myself
on a cliff’s edge.
And yet still
I am a dreadlock
in my own hair
trying to comb myself
out of the knots
muffled noises
arrive like smoke
with a burning smell
my body goes on
like the granite shifts
with involuntary movement.
***
Some say
healing isn’t restoration
rather, reconstruction.
I don’t need to find
the old self
I must plant new flowers
in old trenches left behind.
Now to find which
seeds can grow
in the warm shade
of amber light
and call that
home.
- The Former - December 27, 2025
- To Hold The Sea - May 30, 2025
- Lament of the Dead - September 26, 2024
