Silent Ways

    By Subhana Sawhny Gidwani

    I yelled and yelled madly in the state that was ‘not me’
    But the devil comes out at the drop of a hat.
    I ask him, why, why, why – does he do that?
    I get no reply
    I’m met with silence.

    He stands there speechless, eyes silent.
    His lack of words maddens me.
    All he holds up is silence.
    Allowing the devil in me pass
    knowing it is ‘not me’
    but comes out at the silliest things.

    Understanding, it is ‘not me’ is kindness.
    It is kindness alone that can wash away the devil.

    I want to throw the devil far away
    into the lit skies of dawn.
    Never to return.

    Subhana is a writer and poet. Her work has featured in The Partition museum Amritsar, Museum of material memory, Kintsugi flash fiction Volume 1 (Edited by Abha Iyenger). Her poem ‘The Wilderness in me’ was listed in the Belgavi poetry festival 2022. She has authored a collection of poems titled ‘Pebbles on the beach’. The poems delve into the mystical and soul searching journey of the poet.
    She writes short stories that are both non- fiction and fiction. She is also an amateur photographer and naturalist. She loves seeing birds through the lens. She lives in Mumbai.

    Subscribe to our newsletter To Recieve Updates

      The Latest
      • The Matchbox by Usawa #10

        North-East Special by Matchbox x The Little Journal of North East India

      • rice fields after heartbreak

        Grief, memory, and loss rooted in ritual silence

      • The Woman I Aspire to Be

        The Woman I Aspire to Be: A Feminist Reflection on Age

      • Deobar

        A sensory journey through an Assamese family's Sunday rituals

      You May Also Like
      • Do you talk about me to your friends by Ann Torday Gulden

        This insistent Grandmother My Granny My father’s mother Dead for twenty years

      • Cast Out and Other Stories by Sucharita Dutta-Asane reviewed by Varsha Tiwary

        Women’s bodies, the ultimate battleground?

      • Ye Dil Hai Ki Chordarwaja by Kinshuk Gupta

        Hindi’s first LGBT short-story collection which moves beyond the trope