"All the Spaces in Between"

One of the best things about moving back to Hyderabad was reconnecting with some of my high school friends. Usha Raman is one such friend. It was such a thrill to meet her again and catch up on the past 23 odd years, and to learn that she is a communications professional and teaches media writing and communication here in the city. Recently Usha had some of her poetry published by Writer's Workshop, the book is called 'All the Spaces in Between". Its an introspective collection of her poetry, and the book sits by my bedside and I have been reading her poems over and over again.

Here is one of my favorites:

A Daughter is born

"Dredged up
From the depths of neo-natal experience
A memory stirs.
While head and hands groped for life
In the womb-darkness
Of pre-birth
Tiny feet found
Their first breath
In the bright hospital air.
A little body
Inched out into
The adult world, defined
By adult-set hopes.
Before even,
The baby eyes saw
Their first rays of light,
The voices fell --
"It's a girl".

And another:

Encounter

On so many night travels
I glimpse eternal understanding
in a stranger's eyes.
smiles, words that matter
outpourings of life's stories
essences trapped, bottled,
in seconds.
Then the clickety-clack
of steel on steel
is silenced
as day breaks
 --our everydays are there to greet us.
Exchanged addresses
promises to write, to meet.

And occasional memories
fleeting, nostalgia-packed regrets
for those misplaced slips of paper
somewhere in my duffel bag.