They took the feet
Hung it upside down
No whispers
No cries
The radio station played the news
Which wasn’t the news
They talked about a celebrity
Celebrating the movie
Of a dark skinned man
A metaphor for misery
But who cares
The award went home
The crowd was full of applause
The stage was taken
Fake tears always have an audience
The night air loomed
With dryness and hues
There was another tomorrow
A corpse on the Banyan tree
A picture too vivid to welcome the new dawn
The houses were shut
The conscience abandoned
The actor now made an appearance on the
Television
And said
The award belongs to every man
Who cannot come up on stage
And say how his existence has been mutilated
The crowd cheered
The silence prevailed
The Television was shut down
The day was lived
The dinner was taken
Footsteps crawled out
The story was told
The characters were lived
The humans were dead
And the history of this country continued to sing.
Maryam Abbasi is an educator based out of Lucknow, who has previously been published in both national and international anthologies. She is a passionate lover of literature with a keen interest in the diaspora. Besides her academic interests, she misses no chance to click the bougainvillea at the sidewalks and the abundantly spaced sky, both of which embroider a definition of love and abandonment at the same time for her.