If I were a story,

I wouldn’t write myself.

I’d let myself loose

upon the plains of humankind,

and allow myself

to be used,

abused,

malleated;

rolled on the tongues of every

race,

caste,

religion;

spat out of lips

full,

thin,

round,

kissable,

cleaved,

remembered in parts,

in full,

decomposed,

recomposed,

sung,

narrated,

sobbed over,

thrashed about –

If I were a story,

I would be the subtext of a land,

its people,

its breath.

Namitha Varma is a media professional based in Bengaluru, India. She is a voracious reader, a music enthusiast and an opinionated social observer. She has publishing credits in over 20 literary journals including SahityaAkademi’s Indian Literature, eFiction India, FIVE Poetry, The Literary Herald, The Voices Project, Hackwriters, MadSwirl, and Postcard Poems and Prose. Her micropoem was read out on NPR during the National Poetry Month 2014, and her works also appear in two anthologies. She blogs on narcissistwrites.blogspot.com and tweets via @namithavr.