A rally held in 2016 against the proposed Uranium mining in Mawkyrwat, Khasi Hills A rally held in 2016 against the proposed Uranium mining in Mawkyrwat, Khasi Hills 13 Insomniac Moons

Night ceases to be a sedativehavefun888, a journey through wilderness,weary traveller’s hammock, her trailing footprints orthat lingering winter breath    December, 3.01 am

Night has become an unintelligible prescription,

January, 3.02 am.A busy courtroom, strangulated testimony,

dungeon where I wait forthat chance meeting with the executioner,a sudden announcement.

February, 3.03 amNo more a blank page of hope, a poet’s frenzy,exile in womb, a quieter end    March, 3.04 am

but one shortsentence of the final judgement

April, 3.05 ama hurried signature on the prison register

delirious memory of your face andtufts of prostrate grass after a fanatic wind

No more a madwoman’s refuge, night is, but thehangman’s dawn    May, 3.06 amJune, 3.07 amPainful than death itself, night is death’s keeper,its stubborn remindera waiting room—bleak walls, no doors,windows, no patterns to countto conquer time. A small crevicebut no desire to escape July, 3.08 am

August, 3.09 amNight, no longera geometry of stars but a turbulent sea of celluloid faces—father’s, mother’s, brother’s, sister’s,madwoman’s, hangman’s, cobbler’s, shepherd’s,words, windows, mirrors, colours, paper boats, yarn, speck, winter, spring, summer, autumn—sinking into abyss.

September, 3.10 amNight was to become the last sighin the death chamber before it escapedand was martyred in some stranger’s eyesOctober, 3.10 am

Nov, 3.12 amElsewhere women bury all seasons in their bosom,untangle each other’s hair,in a warm embracesing lullabies and shower almonds forthe last witness.

Uzma Falak, Jammu & Kashmir

(Born and raised in Srinagar, Uzma Falak is pursuing her doctoral studies in anthropology at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, and she teaches at the University of Tübingen, Germany. Her poetry, articles, essays, and reportage have appeared in several publications.)

EMI

Love Lettersand dried flowersand borrowed poetry booksand kohl smudged handkerchiefsand tea stained tissuesand long gossips by the riverfrontand political commentaries at the barber’sand folktales during the sermonsand attention seeking scooter ridesand burgeoning cousin gangs,generational jokes, pillow fightswalkmans, cassettes, camerarolls,ludo, eyespy, marbles,snowman and scarecrows,kites and paperboats,apples and walnut,rice and sugar,milk and snow,

all kept as a mortgage,

we bought some elusive lifeon EMIs,paycheck to paycheck,loan to loan.

Rumuz E Bekhudi, Jammu & Kashmir

(Rumuz E Bekhudi is a multilingual poet, lyricist and translator based in Kashmir. She was featured among the top 50 English poets of India curated by On Fire Cultural Movement. Her poems have been featured in various offline and online publications and have been translated in Punjabi, Teluguhavefun888, Bengali, German and Italian.)

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