By: Bhawna Vij Arora

 ‘Enigma-the helpless rage/when earth’s convulsions/rub on the skin of your existence. ‘E’ is for Envy-the red-eyed sun/eclipses/the earth in me/you and I burn/like a moth/to embers in this ring of fire.  ‘E’ is for Eager-the ants dive into/the spilled shakkar/the rats in the stinking debris/Oh, the greed/of Narcissus/look beyond/your voracious glee. ‘E’ is for Ear flaps-the vampire-like/ivory-tusk/of this elephant/needs a dental re-contouring;/goad the mother/by tapping the baby/gash her/from the middle . . . /to the muted cries/go stone-deaf.

‘E’ is for Equinox
rains in spring
autumn in water
fall in summer-tide.
The moon quivers
kindling chaos
in the equinoctial of 
our bones.

‘E’ is for Earth-she awakens with/unkempt, uncombed seasons/disheveled over/ the menagerie of humans she reminds/we’re just guests/in nature’s turf. ‘E’ is for Echo-you repeat what you sow/I paint the bastard teak in letters/for tomorrow/this flame of forest would/leave the travelers/unquenched/unendowed.

‘E’ is for Elusive–
this yesterday
the grass bloomed
I bleached and painted
it green today
now the cloud
wandered lonely

as I amid the/ashen skies.‘E’ is for Epilepsy-pins and needles of smog/welcome me, as I step out/seizures pump-up my vibe/toxins all-over sprout. ‘‘E’ is for Embryo/you leave the legacy/of/parched lakes,/disappearing cities/sinking histories,/submerged nations,/Pulmonary embolism /and coughing environs/inherited/gifted/wrapped/in the altered genes. 

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Dr. Bhawna Vij Arora publishes poetry, essays, and articles. Her debut collection Dreams in My Lap was shortlisted for the Tagore Prize 2023. She was a Fulbright Language Teaching Assistant at Yale University in the year 2015 to 2016. She has done a documentary project under the aegis of the Digital Media Centre for the Arts (DMCA) at Yale University. Her poems have appeared in TheLiveWire, The Punch Magazine, The Wise Owl Art, The Indian Periodical, Ensemble: A Canadian Journal, Pena Magazine and other anthologies. In 2023, she published her first edited book on the discipline of Memory Studies, Unearthing: Past in Present and Future; Associative Interactions in Orbit of Memory Studies, by Asian Press, Kolkata. Her third book is a collection of academic essays: From Fin de Siecle to Semi-Centennial Drama of Europe: Select Dramatic Textsand Perspectivesunder Cambridge Scholars Press. Currently she is employed as an Assistant Professor (Senior) English, at Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies, affiliated with GGSIP University, Delhi.