Deobar
A childhood Sunday in Assam unfolds through sensory memory — morning tea…
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From ULR
Issue 9 – Violence
It is him; it is not him
The red earth keeps a secret name, haunting a home with a beloved ghost.
February 10, 2026
I don’t like red, the mushy insides of a watermelon, Palash, Modar, thread-work on a Gamusa like rivulets
Flowing out of an open wound.
For two decades the portico light illuminated the Ixora bush
Each floret a study in scarlet.
We don’t utter his name at home
You can never reconcile son/ militant/freedom fighter/ killer
Can you?
I see him waiting under the Areca palm
He asks to come home
I carry his name in my heart like a concealed weapon.
He is a corpse under a Hollong tree on red soil
It is him; it is not him.
You can never reconcile son/ militant/freedom fighter/ brother/ killer
Can you?
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Jahnavi Gogoi
Jahnavi Gogoi is a poet who grew up amidst insurgency in Assam and lived to tell the tale. She is a writer of children’s fiction and a mother to an assertive seven-year-old daughter. Her debut book of poetry ‘Things I told myself’ can be found on Amazon. Jahnavi now resides in Canada in the picturesque town of Ajax.