Nothing is Missing
Arranged beauty, a vanishing self. Silent guns in the corner reveal an…
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From Matchbox
Matchbox – May ’26
The Night, a Naked Knife
A fractured body waits. War's knife-night, smoke, and sirens stitch a surreal, desolate nation.
May 28, 2026
I am waiting for her at the edge of my body—
I look here, I look there—
endless road signs;
one by one, all traffic lights disappear.
The night is a naked knife,
the moon a convicted criminal.
Beyond the harbor, war photographs flutter
from burnt apartment walls—
children without shadows,
helmets filled with sand,
tanks dragging silence through the rubble.
I am rescuing wounded fish from the sea.
Black smoke rises like a second history
of my nameless nation.
Somewhere, flamingos crawl slowly
through fields of sleeping wheat.
Spring is here—
sirens continue stitching the dark together.
They return my body without its parts;
she believes it is me.
We offer prayers at gunpoint.
I sleep again in my zebra pants,
beneath ceilings cracked by invisible bombings.
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PART OF A COLLECTIONThe Night, a Naked Knife and 4 other poems
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Ashwani Kumar
Ashwani Kumar is a poet, political scientist, and professor whose work has been widely published, anthologized, and translated into several languages. His poetry collections include My Grandfather’s Imaginary Typewriter, Banaras and Other Poems, and Map of Memories, and he is also the author of the acclaimed non-fiction work Community Warriors. He has edited major poetry anthologies, including Rivers Going Home, Scent of Rain, and River of Songs, co-founded the Indian Novels Collective, and edits the Hummingbirds Poetry Series in partnership with Red River. He was also a chief editor of Global Civil Society at the London School of Economics. He has held visiting appointments at leading international institutions, including Heidelberg University, the Korea Development Institute (KDI), and the German Development Institute (DIE). He also writes for publications such as The Indian Express, The Hindu, Financial Express, Outlook India, Scroll, and The Print. He lives in Mukteshwar and Mumbai.