Rhymes

by Purabi Bhattacharya / July 19th, 2026

War is on. It is inside.

You join in

with your barren verses

your daily chores, the sound-

of the spoons, spatulas

the crackling crockeries and cutleries

the sound of demolition

of mosques madrasas mews

moments memories

the keyboard

simultaneously

and the beat of your heart

smooth scrolling through reels,

leaving a sour note

no music to ears.

The night shrouds the day,

and the next

and the next, with the arrival of

spring equinox-

you sleep on the mortal remains:

of dreams,

of children,

of butterflies cradling their groves

Minab meanwhile, misses the crooning rhymes.

Purabi Bhattacharya is a writer, a poet, a book and film reviewer from Shillong in North East India. She lives and works in Gujarat at present, teaching undergraduate students. She has four published collections of poems to her credit. Her work has been featured in The People's Archive of Rural India (PARI), Parcham Online, LiveWire, the International Human Rights Art Festival 2023, The Little Journal of North East India, The Lake and And Other Poems, among other literary platforms.  Read other articles by Purabi, or visit Purabi's website.

This article was posted on Sunday, July 19th, 2026 at 8:00am and is filed under Poetry.