Which War
by Ananya S. Guha / June 28th, 2026
My son asked me
how long will the war go on?
which war I asked
there are many going on
I am talking about the people
who can’t get to eat
people who sleep on the pavements
he said,
the war in the country
he said
that is not war my son
that is poverty
but isn’t poverty war
he asked,
beginning to feel uncomfortable
I said the war was about to end
but it didn’t
why he asked
because people love to fight
and by the way, which
war are you alluding to?
my son looked the other way
and said, the war of hate
The war of hate which smoulders
on the soil
the war of hate plundered by missiles
and guns
the war of hate which threatens
cosmology
the war of hate which does not spare
children
and dumps them like carcasses
the war of hate which tears cannot answer
Which war I asked
Which war
Ananya S Guha lives in Shillong in North East India, where he was born and brought up. He has been writing and publishing his poetry for the last forty years. His poetry has been published in both electronic and print formats such as: Indian Literature, Other Voices, Osprey Journal, Glasgow Review, The Literary Nest, Up The Staircase, Asia Writes, Art Arena, Praxis Online, Muse India, Your One Phone Call, In Between Hangovers, The Peeking Cat Magazine, Post Colonial Text among others. He has also written widely on educational and social matters. He has ten collections of poetry and his poetry has been anthologized in various collections of Indian poetry in English. He holds a doctoral on the novels of William Golding.
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This article was posted on Sunday, June 28th, 2026 at 8:00am and is filed under Poetry.
