Crumpled

it is just another day 
with not much to say—  
so I pick up my thoughts 
make a crumpled ball 
to simply toss away 

from the early ticking of the clock 
through the sliding of the day 
tepid flows each striking hour 
measuring listless, mundane minutes
it is just another day

someone ought to strum 
the silent strings on this violin
so I pick it up

but it responds 
with a doleful, grainy screech 
instead of a soulful melody

I just hold it limply by the neck 
run my fingers along its shape 
and like my crumpled thoughts 
I toss it on the bed

 
there is really nothing to say 
the words have melted away 
into the stump of last night’s candle 
shapeless, obscure, worthless…

just another day

©Neetu Malik


Some of Neetu’s Books


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.
  • Sanctuary by Neetu

    my room
    a sanctuary
    at the end of the day

  • Molting Bird by Neetu

    It must have been 
    a stormy night
    when love flew out the window
    of my vacant room 

    like a feather 

    from a molting bird.

  • Dreamcatcher by Neetu

    she gathers dreams that were
    shattered in the last storm
    fragments burnt and charred
    when lightning struck, turned
    an armful of hopes to ash—
    she laces them into a willow hoop

  • Water Lilies by Neetu

    wetting my feet
    in the old pond

    I pause           to remember

  • Curiosity by Neetu

    how many steps
    to the edge of the world
    she wants to know

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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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