“Frighten” © Thomas Riesner

 

Border or no border, I don’t know

Border or no border, I don’t know
He throws apples at my side
And I, my smiles-
I like his apples, and he, my smiles
At times his apples fell on my side

Border or no border, I don’t know
Some stones on my side tumbled
He arranged his and said,
Forefathers told
Good fences make good neighbours
Build fences even between intimate friends
Love your neighbour but do not throw down the dividing wall

Border or no border, I don’t know
Once he threw bombs and grenades too
It didn’t hurt me
But it hurts…..
The soil tasted blood, and bathed in it…
Red is strewn everywhere….
Red is smeared everywhere…
His apples were shot.

Border or no border, I don’t know
Now, no smile; it’s miles away
There’s burning, searing, sighing, screeching…
After the big shots, big heads sat and drew
Lines on a paper to separate people
When they reflect their mirror image

Border or no border, I don’t know
My corns are falling on her fence
and I am losing my sense day by day
I want to mingle with you like a river
Go unhampered like a wind
Travel without a visa like a bird
Smile and shine everywhere like the sun
Rejoice in unfettered lifelike music

Border or no border, I don’t know
At times I wish to touch this border and feel it
I tried it, but I didn’t find any border
There are lines on my palm
People say they don’t tell my future
But lines on the border decide a nation’s fate

Border or no border, I don’t know
What can’t be cured must be endured
What can’t be mended should be amended
But for me, I want to remove these lines
I long to remove these lines…
longing is what gives sense to living…..

 

Pulkita Anand is an avid reader of poetry. She has translated one short story collection, “Tribal Tales from Jhabua”. Author of two children’s e-books, her eco-poetry collection is we were not born to be erased. Her creative works have been published in: Shortstory Kids, Twist and Twain, Tint Journal, Lapis Lazuli, The Creativity Webzine, Winc Magazine (Issue 1, 2, 5 &7), Stanza Cannon, Superpresent, Madwomen in the Attic, Poetica#11 &12, NCTE, The Uglywriters, Impspired (online &print issue) redsoethorns Journal (online and magazine), Kritya, The Amazine, Carmina Magazine, Origami Press, Asiatic, Inanna Publication, Bronze Bird Books, New Verse News, Hakara Journal, Convergence anthology (selected), MAI and elsewhere.

Thomas Riesner: “I was born in Leipzig,Germany in 1971 and I still live here today. Already in elementary school I often painted “abstract” instead of the given concrete drawing. I later retained this style or changed it to “abstract figuration ” I painted a lot at home, always without professional guidance. I didn’t have any specific role models. When I start a picture, I only have a certain idea, but often something completely different emerges. I would describe myself as an outsiderart artist.”