Poetry

Ian D Keating photo

By

Sravani Singampalli

Picasso of a sad poem

I once read a poem

That made me weep the entire day.

A poem that stole my desires

And made me feel the hidden pain.

I could listen to the heart-wrenching song

Of a dewy-eyed orphan child.

I could see his tears

I never thought that

A poem could show me so much

All in just a few seconds.

Rejections

In the submission guidelines

The editors clearly stated

That they wanted something queer,

Poems that do not contain any cliché

And leave them surprised.

I read all the guidelines carefully

And sent my poem

Which I edited three times

To make it perfect.

I was sure that I followed

All the guidelines

But when I received a rejection letter

I felt hopeless.

I read the guidelines again three times

And sent another submission.

I received a rejection letter again

I didn’t lose hope

I kept on writing and submitting.

Summer 2011

I sit alone on the partially wet grass

On a hot summer day

Enveloped in silence.

I don’t think about anything.

I can feel the sweat

Trickling down my back.

My sweat has a vinegary and acidic smell.

Doctors say that the bacteria

Living on my skin

Are responsible for it.

What can I do?

I bath twice a day

To feel better.

People have been harsh to me.

At times I feel isolated

But the fishes in a nearby pond

Brighten up my face.

Perhaps I was a fish

In my previous birth.

On the opposite side of the road

I behold a tree

Facing the fresh water river

On one side

And piles of garbage

On the other.

Sravani Singampalli

Sravani singampalli is a published writer and poet from India. Her works have appeared in Scarlet Leaf Review, Spillwords press, Criterion journal, Setu bilingual journal, Whispers, Labyrinthine Passages journal, The Blue Nib, Night Garden Journal and many others. Her poems are also forthcoming in Leaves of Ink, Kitaab, Formercactus, Gone Lawn journal, Vox Poetica, The Pangolin Review, The stray Branch and elsewhere. She is presently pursuing doctor of pharmacy at JNTU KAKINADA university in Andhra Pradesh,India.