Linda Ashok

Linda Ashok
 
We Are Not Guilty
 
In the future, may there be people
who may roll into wax and light their own darkness
against the darkness of other men and women
possessed by the fact that all earthlings
 
are reflections of the moon.
May future tell the lot that the moon shines
through the sun shines through us.
And we are not guilty of our placements
on earth’s grid that positions us farthest or closest to this.
 
In the future let all black, white and brown and yellow
become the colours losing into each other;
shimmer on every wound
of this earth awaiting
what a man, what a woman
awaits through reincarnating each other
 
The future one brisk cherry blossom,
breaking through the thick of mind to love, to sway-
mindless of the shades of its war-washed petals
 
 
 
Linda Ashok was one of the 25 feature poets selected by the Prakriti Foundation for The Hindu Lit for Life, 2014. Her poetry has appeared or forthcoming in various literary journals including the Mascara Literary Review, The McNeese Review and the Big Bridge Anthology of Contemporary Indian Poetry. She reviews poetry for The Rumpus. A brief mention of Linda can be found on Lit Hub’s #ActualAsianPoets. Linda tweets at @thebluelimit.