Not A Fairytale

Not a fairytale
A Haibun!

The backyard is bathed in pale winter sun, looming burnt brick walls guarding the house look more instagrammable than any of my recent pictures. The dwarf orange tree is swelling with pride, laden with this year’s produce. The marigolds bursting in orange, queue up for my attention. From here, they look planted, painted. Could be real too!

I walk out of my verandah, leaving altaa marks on the tapestry of the frigid marble floor. I miss the warmth of Maa’s rotis.

I notice that the morning sun is too tangent for my liking. My moss-green glass bangles tinkle soft melodies as I start plucking oranges, not sure if they are ripe yet. But then, you are never too sure. Married at a tender age of 19, I wonder if I was also plucked too soon!

sour sunrise
i clean cobwebs off my
cocktail glasses

*Altaa is a red lac dye that is applied to the hands and feet of women during marriage ceremonies or festivals.
*Haibun is a Japanese poetry form that combines a haiku with a prose poem. Haibun prose is usually descriptive. It uses sparse poetic imagery to evoke a sensory impression in the reader. The section of prose is then followed by a haiku that serves to deepen the meaning of the prose, either by intensifying its themes or serving as a juxtaposition to the prose’s content.

#myfirsthaibun