SUNIL SHARMA

SUNIL SHARMA

Stubborn

In the crevices

of the concrete

parapet

grows a sapling

thrusting out

its stout trunk

crowned with

a few green leaves

the Banyan tree

embryonic

---surprise for the girl-child

looking for mother.

Dump

On the dumped garbage

near the street, suburban Mumbai

the dancing flowers

red and orange and white

mesmerize the lone human

on that mound---

a waste collector

barefoot

her teen hands

poised in the stale

air.

The Orange River

The river is trapped

between the high walls

those run throughout the

town manufacturing jeans

and chemicals and fumes

the effluents released in the river

once sacred to the community

now---

mere drain

choking with debris.

It is an old river

meandering its way

huffing and puffing

and

refusing to die,

like the old man in the

house of mirrors!

SUNIL SHARMA

SUNIL SHARMA, a senior academic and author-freelance journalist from the suburban Mumbai, India. He has published 22 books so far, some solo and joint. He edits Setu: An online Literary Web Journal.