(i)
in the beginning
darkness and light
tangled through
the ocean of possibilities
to the bloodshed
of mahabharata
and beyond
the word
ducked and dodged
through dark and light
to the cross
the crusades
and beyond
into you and me
acting in
the deathly dramas
of yemen and ukraine
Poonam Jain2023
(ii)
somewhere
there are
flickering fragments
of other stories
no longer on our tongues
can you and i
bend our words
to mine
those moments
of a different truth
create new memes
that dance
in the air we breathe