Checkpoints By Lareena Abdul Haq Poem by Lareena Abdul Haq

All artistic flairs have been taught
There was just one left for the final test.

When the training for taking out the heart and
holding it in the palm
with no conflict of any sort
and with it writhing and twisting
offering it as Qurbani
was also over
the face turned, a sculpture.
Not an iota of emotion, nowhere.

The heartbeats alone that flowed as tears
remained restive and anguished
as the flame twirling inside the hearth
As lifting a dead frog by its legs
you had held it between your two fingers.

When the curtain came down
indicating the show's closure
all alone
I remained in the auditorium
Your ‘persona' had left long ago.
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Rendered in English by Latha Ramakrishnan