‘Houses, No Homes…’ by Ananya S Guha

There is at every alley

a twist. Then a turn.

The alley leads to a house

( not a home).

Cats purr, dogs bark

and men and women

push shovels, decaying

remains of a foreboding truth.

The one they know so well.

Now, it is vapid, wan and

a trifle insignificant

to their singeing, hollow lives.

 

The alleys continue to twist

and turn, like a game of gnomes

and cards.

 

Collapsing into the wind’s fury.

There are houses.

But there are no homes.

Like a pack of cards, King, Queen, Jester

the houses collapse like a two frog being.

 

This is the story of men and women

in a country, where there are houses.

But- no homes.

 

 

Poet’s Bio: Ananya S Guha lives in Shillong and works in The Indira Gandhi National Open University. He holds a doctoral degree on the novels of William Golding. His poems in English have been published in both print and online, in India and abroad.

Illustration by Alan Van Every (Featured image on the front page)