Special Section: Sandip Chauhan

Sandip Chauhan

This small infinity
— the witness of wonder

  Sandip Chauhan

each wave returns a different fragment,

a broken shell,

                  a smooth stone,

                                 a shard of blue glass

that might once have held the sky.

i press them into the sand,

listening as they hum to one another.

the wind smells like warm honey and melted crayons.

far away, the gulls keep calling.

i try to count them,

but one drifts into a cotton cloud.

sometimes i think if i walk far enough,

i’ll find where the sea begins.

papa says

    the sea has no edges,

the sky falls into the sea in one thin line.

mama says

    trying to find the edge of the sea is like

 trying to find where dreams go when we wake.

i wait between one wave and another,

my red shoes sinking soft in the sand,

wondering if somewhere a mermaid might rise

beyond the waves.

 

receding tide

       a train whistle

from another town
***

Bio: Sandip Chauhan is based in Northern Virginia, USA. Her work draws on the haikai sensibility, where few words open into quiet spaces. She writes in English and Punjabi, exploring migration, belonging, and the subtle ways nature opens into memory.

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Setu, November 2025