The Ofi Press Magazine

 Poem by Rinzu Rajan (India)

Published in Issue 32.

Lost in Translation

And I remember

how we talked even in telepathy,

styled our synonymous silence

and wore each other's secrets

like the crucified Christ

hanging on a rosary

escorting us from evil,

She can't explain me her

vitrified vocabulary in

rajma, rotis, rice and university

or when I beg in disagreement

over another escalated effort

at making me

a Husband welfare organization

rearing to be a Momma Welfare roll.

Then we had our linguistic liaisons

till blue moons that thirsted

for years and now,

we whine for words

love we shared after the umbilical cord

was cut and pain sterilized with sour spirit.

She is stopping while she accuses me

of having grown in my shoes

she expects me to be her

in cooking and cleaning

while I see myself in her

knowledge and knowing.

We have memorized parting privacy

to our advantage

she says it's better to not talk

rather than not read with rights

I don't want to loose her

while spelling this suffocation

when everything else

just seems to be lost in translation.