Poetry: Anita Nahal (Tagore Special)

Anita Nahal

Mom and her motia* (jasmine)
(Six monokus)

            The raindrop whispered to the jasmine, “Keep me in your heart forever.”
            The jasmine sighed, “Alas,” and dropped to the ground.

             ~Rabindranath Tagore, Stray    Birds, 1921~

         

 

i.

And my mom picked you up...placed you on her pillow, inhaled your aura.

ii.

Tagore's raindrops smiled, sighed again, whispered, "You are with a special soul."

iii.

Then they tiptoed away, hop scotching, chortling, like satisfied children.

iv.

Shaking water off, mom made you, her earrings. Motia aglow. Heart soothed.

v.

Don’t often find you in America. Adorning mom in heaven?

vi

Alas…I read bard’s poem, sigh, sprinkle motia oil on my pillow.

 

 

* “As summer arrives the fragrance of motia assails one's senses. The Jasminum sambac plant belongs to the jasmine family and is popularly known in the [South Asian] subcontinent as 'motia'. It is a hardy plant and grows throughout the year but flowers only in summer.”

~https://plantogallery.com/products/motia-small-flower-plant-home-gardening-flower-plant-for-all-season~

 

Bio: Anita Nahal, Ph.D., CDP is an Indian American poet, professor, flash fictionist, and children’s writer. She has three books of poetry, one of flash fictions, four for children and four edited anthologies to her credit. Her third poetry book, What’s wrong with us Kali women? (Kelsay, 2021) has been prescribed as compulsory reading in an elective course on Multicultural Society at Utrecht University, The Netherlands, and was nominated by Cyril Dabydeen, Guyanese Indian Canadian poet laureate emeritus & novelist as the best poetry book (2021) for British, Ars Notoria Anita teaches at the University of the District of Columbia, Washington DC. https://anitanahal.wixsite.com/anitanahal

---

Tagore Special :: Setu, May 2022