A Stillbirth

    by Nithya Mariam John

    The master’s manly hairs
    hovered between her sun and stars.

                Blessed Virgin!
                The Messiah will tread on the earth a second time,
                had rejoiced the maimed and the broken.

    The diabolic pseudo-doyen, splayed across M’s faint shadow, veiling
    the womb cradled by Muse, watched over by Poesy,
    lullabied by the Ancient bards!

    The serpentine hiss parked on his tongue,
    he vigorously stomped his feet on the pregnant belly.

    This time, the Pilate did not waste time searching for the Truth.
    Judas was saved.
    Peter and the cock did not appear on stage.
    The Calvary was spared a cross,
    and Joseph did not have to hunt for a vacant tomb.

    Salvation called off,
    in a single, powerful kick.

    Nithya Mariam John is a poet, translator and teacher from Kerala. A few of her works are housed in Kendra Sahitya Akademi’s Indian Literature, Kerala Sahitya Akademi’s Malayalam Literature Survey, Borderless, SETU, International Journal of Fear Studies and Samyuktha Poetry. Poetry Soup, Reflections & Ruminations and Bleats and Roars are short collections of her scribblings. She is a lazy scribbler on Mizhi (nmjs.in) and tries to climb over her unending ignorance by reading.

    Subscribe to our newsletter To Recieve Updates

      The Latest
      • The Usawa Newsletter April ‘24

        Kabir Deb: Hey Rochelle!

      • The Usawa Newsletter March ‘24

        Much like the title itself, Smitha Sehgal’s maiden poetry collection How Women

      • An interview with the Editors of Poetry at Sangam

        Taking down Poetry at Sangam must have generated a plethora of flashbacks of

      • The Usawa Newsletter February ‘24

        How JLF helped me with my undiagnosed dyslexia and ADHD In the bustling city of

      You May Also Like