This poem is about that time when life came to a halt. When suddenly all that we knew was good & safe was stripped away from us, and instead we were left with uncertainty, forced to live one day at a time, and deal with low level trauma.
This poem is about the time when roti, kapda, makaan (bread, clothes, house) became the most important parts of daily life. What will I cook for the next meal?
This poem is about the time when the dishes seemed to be growing out of the sink - always dirty, always demanding to be washed.
This poem is about the time when our family unit of three became one. When we spent every waking hour together, under the same roof - and learned that this felt really comfortable.
This poem is about the time when having daily lunches together became the norm, and when I bought a ba of atta (flour) for the first time in my life.
The poem is about that first aloo ka parantha I made in my life, watching YouTubers, feeling a pang of shame thinking I could have learned how to do this from my mother all those years earlier.
This poem is about the time when life slowed down, and I finally felt what I wanted in my life - slowness. Is that a word? I have always tried, no, struggled to slow down. But when everyone around you seems to be sprinting marathons, even your slowest will be a jog at best, with little sprints in between.
This poem is about finding the pace of life that best suits you. A pace that allows for lie-ins on mornings your body is just not ready to be, to do. This poem is about finding what matters most each day - a nutritious, home-cooked meal for my family.
This poem is about writing, documenting, keeping records of the mundane happenings - through morning pages, bullet journaling, gratitude logs ... so that someday, when you are long gone - your life is a beautiful, fascinating work of art, to piece together. And when I say 'you are long gone,' I wonder if that will be my own mind that is gone. If I were to lose all my memories - I would have my pages and pages, books filled with my memories - and I could piece together what my life used to be like.
This poem is about living in this moment - however that moment is. Good or bad - it is just a moment - and it can hold however much weight & importance you choose to give it. This poem is about not weeping over what the past used to be - slower, languishing days - but about creating that in your here & now.
This poem is about being present in your here and now.
This poem is about weekends with no agenda, except maybe a frisbee game @ the park.
This poem is about the life you build for yourself each and every day. This is about the choices you make - to celebrate, to be happy, to be present, to remember that you are enough - you do enough - you are happy - you are safe, you are loved.
Written during 'Wild Surfwriters' weekly group. Please refer to my previous post about Wild Writing for further context.
