August 2022
Bio Note: On the occasion of my forty-second wedding anniversary, I dedicated two poems to my spouse, included in my collection of poems titled 'In A Lighter Vein.' One of those poems appears below. 'Before Rain' is a Tandem poem, which is a genre I created to write a poem alongside my father's poem 'After Rain,' where the subject of both poems is rain, but the content and the language are mine. I have a couple of tandem poems I am currently working on. Meanwhile, I am happy to have poems and interviews published in various anthologies and journals, including the Yearbook of Indian Poetry in English and Best Asian Poetry.
Poet Spouse
You can expect trouble when your wife is a poet
Poetry will make her a procrastinator
of household chores, laundry, dishes, vacuuming
Meals might be delayed.
She’ll do loads of laundry at a stretch, overload the machine
till it sends undecipherable flashing messages,
He wants the Under Armour track pant now,
He wants to go swimming, I am writing poetry
Our priorities are never the same.
I tell him he doesn’t need
A track pant to go swimming
‘So, should I drive to the pool
in my swim trunks?’
I ignored his question, it was rhetorical anyway
he wanted only that particular track pant.
I make a cup of tea or two
He needs another one, more than two
I ask ‘How much tea do you drink?’
He asks, ‘have you forgotten I am from India?’
It’s the classic, familiar semi-serious banter
Boiling hot is a must
Thank goodness for microwaves.
I ask him excitedly
to read a poem I just wrote
He works from home,
as usual, in the middle of a conference call
‘Hurry up,’ I say, with urgency
with those Indian gestures
using both hands and head
‘Wait two minutes’ he says
I’ve been waiting two minutes for forty years!
He tells me he can’t think ‘now’
I tell him, ‘all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,’
He tells me his name is not Jack,
So he’s quite sure I’m not talking about him.
He asks me if Poetry is passed down through the genes
Is it a scientifically proven fact?
Or mere conjecture?
We both laugh.
I say we should write poetry together
Then there will be no conflict of interest,
He stops laughing
I laugh alone.
Before Rain
Tandem Poem to Nissim Ezekiel’s poem ‘After Rain.’
Before rain
The grey clouds swell to bursting
The air stills in anticipation
The pressure changes.
Beginning with tiny droplets of rain kissing
Sounding so musical and sweet.
Finally it enters the earth,
The thirsty road dashed and dotted
With dampness.
Before rain
I rush to bring the cushions in
the washing put out to dry
The smell of fresh earth
takes me back home
Rain has a way of doing that.
The eaves slowly rattle
with a tinny sound
The birds take shelter
I spy the silhouette of feathers
Heads tucked under bird bodies
Using branches for umbrellas
The dripping trees in the front lawn
Squelch the grass.
Before rain
I write poetry
After rain
I write more poetry
I curl up beside the cats.
I put my hand out
as in childhood
I lick the wetness
The raindrops taste so good.
Yet always that eternal missing
that refuses to leave the soul
I miss the croaking of the frogs
I sing the Rain Song in my native language
It’s magical in the original
It resists translation into English.
I see the peacock dance, spreading its fan.
I dream of corn grilling on a coal fire by the roadside vendor
Hot pakoras with tamarind chutney in a roadside dhaba.
No rainy day is complete without
The tastes and smells of home.
I belong to these rain roots.
©2022 Kavita Ezekiel Mendonca
Editor's Note: If this poem(s) moves you please consider writing to the author (email address above) to say what it is about the poem you like. Writing to the author is what builds the community at Verse Virtual. It is very important. -JL