Inventory by Reena Prasad

Inventory

He lies, glass over him, his twinkle hidden under lids

prodding open my easier-to-open vaults

with his frail frame prompt

and now I see him

throwing rolled-up rice into the air
his mouth opening at the right moment to catch the ball
(I hoped one would fall)

closing the windows on my teen-ambushed nights
Me, opening them silently after midnight just a little
and the cat and the moon
pawing their way in and out.

His body-shaped space on the cot
bordered by books he never read
Hitler, Thakazhi, Nehru and Galbraith,
only rare editions
I would take one and nudge the others closer
to not distort his aura. Now he has only the coldness
and no say at all about its confines.

An overgrown yard, thin, yellow-armed cuscuta dangling from nameless trees, night jasmine strewn on grass, a busy breeze, the kitchen with a single tea pot, a spoon, a cup, a hot plate, a wooden chair and his brisk footfalls-meager but adding up to only him.This hurried, human inventory is a failure. 

He doesn't care. His flaming chariot waits.

BIO: Reena Prasad is a poet/writer from India, currently living in Sharjah (United Arab Emirates). Her poems have been published in several anthologies and journals e.g. The Copperfield Review, First Literary Review-East, Angle Journal, Poetry Quarterly, York Literary Review, Lakeview International Journal, Duane's PoeTree, Mad Swirl, GloMag etc. She is also the Destiny Poets UK's, Poet of the year for 2014 and one of the editors of The Significant Anthology released in July 2015. More recently, she was adjudged second in the World Union Of Poet's poetry competition, 2016 and won an award in the 2016 "As You Like It International Poetry Contest" commemorating the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare.