NaPoWriMo Day 1 (Instagram) - List Poem
There is a checklist of things to be a person
(after Joshua Jennifer Espinoza)
1. Carefully carry the scorching milk boiler to pour milk into a tumbler, yet spill the milk all over the stovetop so that it smells like an unclean dairy farm for the rest of the week. Wouldn't it be good if you could spill your insecurities like this?
2. Leave the utensils in the tub overnight so that you can sulk a bit more in the morning. And sweetly revel in the thoughts of making tea because you're still scouring through the heap to find the kettle.
3. Fold laundry, fold laundry, fold laundry, f o l d laundry...
4. Realise that somewhere something is burning when it is your most-craved chicken curry that you had left mistakenly on high flame. How long are you going to ache for incinerated lovers?
5. Forget to take the clothes that you had hung to dry only for the sudden onset of a bloody downpour to soak them up once again. P.S: That cherished gown you have to wear for your mother's funeral the next day is the wettest.
6. Be so lazy to cook the gravy for the flatbread but then suddenly realise that you are no longer alone and you have mouths to feed. Also, realise that you should have been more grateful for those bygone days of solitude.
7. Order ceramic cutlery online and receive them more damaged than your damaged soul. Also, remind yourself to Google about organic ways to live.
8. Fill up the petty charpoy with so many things that you wouldn't find a spot to unburden your rage or the day's stress.
9. Set the air-conditioner to match the temperatures of the Arctic Circle and then burn with a high temperature for three consecutive days. Only if you had frozen your past like this, you'd have summered with peace by now.
Without these household chores and errors, there is no completion for a checklist of things to be a person.
©Kavya Janani. U
If you love my poems, please consider purchasing a copy of my poetry collection – La Douleur Exquise.
You can check out my other list poems here: List Poems by Kavya Janani. U