poetry by yukti narang

OF BATS AND BATTLEGROUNDS 

In the evening time, the pastor paints a landscape in green
it has been years since he’s seen the green pastures,
figs on trees, olives filling jars, overflowing with abundance
years since he’s plucked raw mangoes, and brushed his teeth with the leaves of neem,
since he sat on the grass and nibbled on baby spinach
in metaphors, that is,
in each family, one brother is a soldier, one is a pastor
what the soldier darkens with bombs, a cave-like structure where bats find shelter, seeking blood and survival, 
the pastor fills with hollow words 
some seemingly cemented 
the painter illustrates fancy on canvases 
the actor performs in solitude 
till the soldier returns for months on end, swamped with paperwork,
a green pasture out the window,
then, the phone rings, 
reminding him, that what bombs darken most are the soldiers’ hearts 
soft, divided furnaces

BRUISES

a bruise resembles a fruit 
and looks for palettes of color on a body
an ocean, the shades of soot,  
blue hunger to be painted tidy 

it coats the flesh on the canvas
with the grease of gruesome flags 
against the beauty of fitted angles
plum as red as the bounty of fresh orchards

and wings of the skin expand with underlying, perforated veins 
dolls in the yard stare across with mischief
and ornaments smile and stain the blueberry colors, quench the collars,
turning and lingering, the blues play on the gramophone,

olive’s oil seeps into the skin
eyes open more clearly 
dainty fingers move quickly
palms smell of ointment and gas
then cashew a day later

creams and perfume on the wrist 
sounds of chewing calcium
brewing tea on the pot
all look the same

baskets bask in the sun
expectant of fresh produce inside the body
an ocean of bruised shades
turn to light 
and wail for the fruit to grow again

Yukti Narang is an Indian creative writer, screenwriter, and actor. She has been published in several literary magazines and anthologies. Yukti has written poetry, prose, short films, dramas, and theatre plays and wishes to be a versatile storyteller. She has also written as an art writer with two art galleries. She is working to make it big in cinema and literature. Her debut book, “There Is A Home In All Of Us” is a fiction-poetry collection, a story told in verse, and was released in March 2023 with Khalis House Publishing, UK.