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Mandira Pattnaik

fire in the rearview mirror

​forgive me. i never saw you heaving. coming.
always lived in a saucer brimming. gulped
stale grey soup, drenched in torrents. i hurried,
scurried. knocked for work. washed cars.
never paid enough. you waited. skirt afloat.
waved from your backyard. among flushed peonies.
i struggled to etch a life. was carried, a feather,
by winds that didn’t abate. sometimes a dust
storm. sometimes blind rage. i thought you’d remain
closer than your scarf in my hands. you didn’t.
 
away, i sculpted verses on rocks, on parched earth,
and on brooks, our story, calligraphy on sand.
you wafted away like mirage. now, it’s twenty
years of a dome gloating over its fiery wings. on my
hapless skies. like falling debris, my pounding
heart hurtles to a stop.  coarse yellowing
photographs, my fingers skim your dried,
parted lips. feel warmth. sizzling, searing heat.
a billowing forest fire. now, you’re only the city
that blushes at my great presence. watches stunned.
 
***

Biography

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Mandira Pattnaik's first poem appeared in the national daily The Times of India. Her work, poetry and fiction, has since appeared in Eclectica Magazine, Citron Review, Watershed Review, Bombay Lit Magazine, Splonk, New World Writing, Amsterdam Quarterly, Not Very Quiet and Passages North, among other places. Her writing has been translated and included in anthologies. Forthcoming are pieces in Prime Number Magazine, Feral Poetry and Reflex Press. She is BotN and Best Microfiction nominee this year. Lives in India, loves to embroider. Tweets @MandiraPattnaik 
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  • Home
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  • Issues
    • Issue 49
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    • Issue 45
    • Issue 44
    • Issue 43
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    • Issue 40
    • Issue 39
    • Issue 38
    • Issue 37
    • Issue 36
    • Issue 35
    • Issue 34
    • Issue 33
    • Issue 32
    • Issue 31
    • Issue 30
    • Issue 29
    • Issue 28
    • Issue 27
    • Issue 26
    • Issue 25
    • Issue 24
    • Issue 23
    • Issue 22
    • Issue 21
    • Issue 20
    • Issue 19
    • Issue 18
    • Serenity
    • Issue 17
    • The Audio Room
    • Issue 16
    • Issue 15
    • Issue 14
    • Play It Again
    • Issue 13
    • Issue 12
    • Issue 11
    • Issue 10
    • Issue 9
    • Issue 8
    • Issue 7
    • Issue 6
    • Hand to Mouth
    • Issue 5
    • Issue 4
    • Issue 3
    • Issue 2
    • Issue 1
  • Submissions