by Uma Gowrishankar
Dead Shellfish
The ocean press is the palmist
you frequent to. But the sound
the water makes when it kisses
the reserved lips of the shore
wouldn’t foretell that one’s own
home could break one’s own heart.
And here comes the day when
you find yourself washed ashore,
far away from home, unable to find
the way back. Before you know it
a force other than the ocean’s
collects you for shirt buttons.
The secret music gone. Your
hollow life behind time now.
Maed Rill Monte writes from the Philippines. He dons the romantic spirit while looking at the rapid industrialization of his hometown. Many of his earlier works contained the spirit of zen poetry.
Uma Gowrishankar is a poet and artist from Chennai, South India, and has been painting longer than she has been writing. When she journals her travels, she chooses watercolors to capture the moment and is realistic or impressionistic in style; when she expresses ideas, her style is expressionistic. She wishes to create narratives where space and form explore layers of meaning. She blogs her artwork at https://mauvesea.wordpress.com/