from the sky

sparrows & crows

drop down dead as would

people during

a premeditated carnage.

doesn’t froth in the water

mean the river is so

sick it’s throwing up?

she shuts tight

the window through which

i’m peering through.

this noon

i do not carry

my gas mask

with me & she

knows it.

this day

how am i to get

home from here

amid all this smog?

she picks & puts

in its socket

my right eye

that pops out as i slap

my left cheek

& she says look

over there

pointing to

a rat hole.

do you see time

everlasting or

time forever lost?

is this time the last

time or is this the lost

time or was the last

time this time?

the last time.

yes the last time.

now i remember

the lost time.

this time

i turn into

a weaver ant & begin

my firm march

as she turns into

a latrodectus & reaches

her cobweb, that’s

holding a dandelion

that dangles,

spun beneath

a peeling wooden bed.

…

Ahimaz Ponrasa (@ahimaaz) has been published recently with Elephants Never, Burning House Press, Marlskarx, Big Echo: Critical SF, Paint Bucket, Speculative 66, formercactus, Dream Pop Press and MoonPark Review. He lives in the Union of India.