The bird-catcher turns blind,
says to his wife,
“Go. Free the birds.”
The leaves proclaim,
summer roosts the season, but
shiver in the wind unwinds winter.
Here, a shadow waits for its master.
Here, a woman leaves a brick-cage.
The bird-catcher calls his wife,
“Did you emancipate the wings?”
No one answers, as if
the woods have licked away their village.
Kushal Poddar
Illustration Nick Victor
Authored ‘The Circus Came To My Island’, ‘A Place For Your Ghost Animals, Understanding The Neighborhood’, ‘Scratches Within’, ‘Kleptomaniac’s Book of Unoriginal Poems’, ‘Eternity Restoration Project- Selected and New Poems’ and now ‘Herding My Thoughts To The Slaughterhouse-A Prequel’ (Alien Buddha Press)