1 Poem by Shobhana Kumar

fall

the last straw
almost, always
picks its time to fall:
an innocuous, seemingly ordinary one,
the silent second after
the cacophony,
a cat on the wall moment,
a casual conversation,
sometimes, even tepid lust.

mine picked all.

how many more
will i bear
before i break?

perhaps the straws will tire
and pick another back?

Bionote

Shobhana Kumar’s first volume of poetry, The Voices Never Stop, was published by Writers Workshop, Calcutta in 2012. Her work is featured in The Dance of the Peacock—An Anthology of English Poetry from India edited by Dr. Vivekanand Jha and appears as a chapbook, 'it's winter after spring' by Origami Poems Project.  Her work has also appeared in  several  journals including Journal of the Poetry Society of India, The Brown Critique, The Literary Yard, Writers Asylum, Pyrokinection, Muse India and Kritya Journal of Poetry. She has authored four books of non-fiction. Her short stories are featured in New Asian Writing and will be part of the 2013 anthology. Her second volume of poetry, Conditions Apply  will be published by Writers Workshop in 2014.