A Gift
I will not count the seconds
I will not check the clock
I will listen only to the sound of
my own inhale and exhale and
the tapping of keys
watch my breath stir the strands
of my hair
as it falls below my chin
over this keyboard
my fingers
typing this note
to myself, this moment
a gift I give
to me
© Neetu Malik
Author Bio
Author Bio
Born in India, Neetu has lived in Austria, England, and Canada before settling in the Eastern USA in 1994. Neetu’s eclectic work reflects her diverse background as she explores the joy and darkness of the human condition in poems and stories noteworthy for their intensity in brief span. Her poetry is published in journals and Anthologies from Australia, USA, UK, and India. Her poem, “Soaring Flames”, was awarded First-Place by the NY Literary Magazine (2017). She has also been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, 2019 for her poem “Sacred Figs” published by Kallisto Gaia Press in their Ocotillo Review in May, 2018.
-
She wraps her child
in the old, soft mantle -
soft murmurs in the dark
don’t enlighten me
they leave me fumbling
for something real to grasp -
The marbles roll
on a patch of dirt–
colored transparencies
shine in the afternoon sun. -
I carve a piece of blue sky
for the dark days ahead -
ong shadows
the afternoon s t r e t c h e s us
on the sidewalks
×
Born in India, Neetu has lived in Austria, England, and Canada before settling in the Eastern USA in 1994. Neetu’s eclectic work reflects her diverse background as she explores the joy and darkness of the human condition in poems and stories noteworthy for their intensity in brief span. Her poetry is published in journals and Anthologies from Australia, USA, UK, and India. Her poem, “Soaring Flames”, was awarded First-Place by the NY Literary Magazine (2017). She has also been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, 2019 for her poem “Sacred Figs” published by Kallisto Gaia Press in their Ocotillo Review in May, 2018.
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I love this vignette, Neetu! Provocative. Reminds me of what we all need to do at time–write for our own enjoyment.
Thank you for coming by to read this, Denise. Glad you enjoyed it!
This kind of captured moment–almost an instant–is your greatest strength as a poet. Thru the seized instant of time, expressed in concrete, vivid, simple images, you jolt the reader into treasuring THEIR ‘moments’ that in the flurry of our days so often flash by and away. . .before we’ve savored them at all.
Thank you, moonfroth, for the constant encouragement and support you give me. Sometimes, all we have are the moments and they are rare…..
Thank you to all the bloggers who have liked and/or shared this poem. Much appreciated!