Spinning Wheel

Kavita Ezekiel Mendonca

My mind spins the yarn into colored *Khadi Kurtas my father wore, 

Those maroon, green, blue, purple kurtas, spun on Gandhi’s Chakra.

The wheel of patience and calm wove other things too,

Goodness and calm into my father’s veins.

‘Good travels at a snail’s pace.’

Father wore seventy-nine years of goodness and patience.

He walked slowly and talked slowly, with his almost Gandhian spectacles.

Teaching Poetry in the classroom, he opened his arms wide.

I could see two large patches of salty sweat 

Spreading across each armpit, enough salt to stain the clothes.

Before washing the kurtas

He rinsed them in salt water

A symbolic act,

Father was a lover of peace and non-violence

Just like Gandhi, homespun men of homespun cloth.

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Bio: Kavita Ezekiel Mendonca was born and raised in a Jewish family in Mumbai.  She was educated at the Queen Mary School, Mumbai, received her BA in English and French, an MA from the University of Bombay in English and American Literature, and a Master’s in Education from Oxford Brookes University, England.  She has taught English, French and Spanish in various colleges and schools in India and overseas, in a teaching career spanning over four decades. Her first book, Family Sunday and Other Poems was published in 1989, with a second edition in 1990. She has read her poems for the All India Radio in Mumbai, and her poem ‘Family Sunday’ was featured in an Anthology of Women’s Writing. Her poems have also appeared in Destiny Poets, U.K, Poetry India, SETU, Café Dissensus, among others.  She writes Poetry and Short Fiction.  Kavita is the daughter of the late poet, Nissim Ezekiel. She manages her Poetry page at https://www.facebook.com/kemendoncapoetry/

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Setu Special 2020 :: Setu, October 2020