Poetry 2015 Shortlist, Sana Tamreen Mohammed

Discreet Bubbles

Absurdly, midst the crowd,
My mouth opened for
A microsecond perhaps.
Fish gape quite often.
What thoughts they yield, I wonder.
A multitude of thoughts
Refuge in bubbles, escape,
Only to lose the identity
In the seamless sea.
Less confident ones
Die at their birthplaces.
Fat, arrogant bubbles
Surface with pride, ignorant
Of the caustic truth

That all bubbles face

Same inescapable fate.

My restless mind wanders off
To the day mother braided
My hair, both un-identical.
How I snapped at dear mother
In a voice spoken only
With the closest ones,
Unafraid of it’s
Quality being judged.
Later that day my teacher
Displayed flashcards of fish.
I noticed my reflection
On the pane of the window.
Strangely, I eyed discreet
Bubbles mutedly spurting,
Ceasing, disappearing.