1 Poem by Stuti Sinha

Dessert for every season

(previously published by DiBiase Poetry 2023)

I would be a lemon.

Peeled citrus heaven in a sparkling spritz,
flutters of a fragrant spring.
I draw daffodils of newly harvested hope
and radiant rebirth.

Now, no black hole has gravity
          enough to swallow you.

                     I would be a jamun.

                     Sultry summer indulgence
                     nestled in cupped hands,
                     oozing lust in lilac elixir
                     caressing and pooling
                     on your coppery dappled shores.

                      You always know just how to hold me
                                   in your folds.

I would be a fig

Autumnal jewels
in the comfort of nonna’s kitchen
preserved in old fashioned jars,
bubbled down stickiness
from plump purple teardrops.

One drop is an entire ocean,
                   (enough to swallow you)

I would be an orange

A wafting winter scent
unpeeling cravings into curled ribbons
like a marmalade of merlot gloaming.
Steep me in these ruby ripples,
I willfully surrender

                   While you consume me in parts -
                              Flesh
                                          skin
                                                     and rind.

Bionote

Stuti is an Indian writer & musician, who lives in Dubai, UAE. She writes primarily about the human experience and emotions. Being passionate about travel, she loves to weave different cultures and her heritage into her writing. In 2023 she was acclaimed in San Antonio Writers Guild Poetry Competition and selected as a finalist in the DiBiase Poetry Contest. In 2022, she won the International Westmoreland Award for short fiction & The International Allingham Festival Prize for Poetry. She also received an honourable mention in the International Globe Soup Short Memoir Contest, long-listed for the International Erbacce & International Gloucestershire Poetry Contests. She previously has an honourable mention in the 2021 Annual Haiku Competition by The Society of Classical Poets and has been published by them, by Sky Island Journal, Celestite Poetry, Moss Puppy Magazine, Slice of Life Lit Mag, Duck Duck Mongoose Mag, and Sonder Magazine. She has also been published by Ink Gladiators Press, Querencia Press, Quillkeepers Press and has had her work included in the First Line Poets Anthology (2022) and Poetic Reveries Anthology (2023). Stuti is an animal lover and has a feline fur baby whose name is Yuki.