Dr. Nandini Sahu, India (Winging through Gloom: Poetry of Hope and Recovery)

Nandini Sahu

Prof. Nandini Sahu, Amazon’s best-selling author 2022, Professor of English and former Director, School of Foreign Languages, IGNOU, New Delhi, India, is an established Indian English poet, creative writer and folklorist. She is the author/editor of sixteen books. She is the recipient of the Literary Award/Gold Medal from the hon’ble Vice President of India for her contribution to English Studies. Her areas of research interest cover New Literatures, Critical Theory, Folklore and Culture Studies, Children’s Literature and American Literature.

THE LOTUS LEAF

I am the lotus leaf. I am ardent.

Nothing can hold me. And

I want to hold on to nothing. I have ultra-hydrophobicity 

as unveiled by the leaves of ‘Nelumbo’, the lotus!

Drop something on my peripheral, it floats and cascades.

I have been making the mountains float since decades.

I am the backwaters of Kerala, I recede 

as much as I ensue and proceed. 

My lotus-effect denotes to self-cleaning.

Dust particles picked up by water droplets

by the micro-and-nanoscopic architecture on my shallow

diminishes the droplet's adhesion to my surface.

I am conceited being seamlessly unsoiled.

My heart is impeccable, so are my passions and my soul.

I hold on to no anger, no greed, no jealousy, no callousness

and no love, no desire for that matter. 

“Love, you are self-cleanser, self-made, self-motivated.

This is your forte; this is your character.

You can be hydrophobic or hydrophilic, be whatever,

depending on how the water gets on to your exterior.

I comprehend and I adore you for that staple.

I won’t pour anything into you as you are not the vessel

to drop my indistinctness thence. But can I be your lotus stem

to support you, hold you straight, upright and fair.”

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Setu, March 2022