Like the testimony of the river
that flowed under her skin
She persisted relentlessly,
like her weathered sewing machine
A nondescript brown woman
Refusing to cease
like a dried marigold.
She savored my memory
with silk yarns and iron resolve.
With a dab of kumkum
on creases of her
sunburned forehead;
On a sweaty afternoon
she appeared in the neighborhood alone
A battered suit case in tow
many a bruised violated nights too
few vapour rife days
some wafer thin
gas lighted dreams in blue
her needle and thread unfrayed,
She had some open seams in her bosom,
But had a roaring resilient heart,
From late mornings to later evenings
her gnawing sewing machine snarled.
Embroidering her much abused self worth,
She stitched velvety blouses
and mulmul shirts
Her deft fingers on sewing wheel
hemmed her broken spine and gut
Through her tangled yarns she spun stories relentlessly
Baroness of our manicured childhood
She claimed our Snow white and Cinderella quintessentially.
Deepti Sharma is a management post graduate and a former entrepreneur. Currently working as an Associate Editor of women's magazine ' Pinkishe'. A blogger, a poet and a mini fiction writer, her work has been published in many e journals and online magazines. She has won many poetry and fiction writing contests. A published poet, with couple of anthologies named 'Emotionally yours' and 'Towers of Inspiration', she is a mother of three children who resides in Punjab.
The above poem written by her has won her second place in the #poetryprompt #sewingmachinetales organized by Chrysanthemum Chronicles in their Facebook Group Page in the year 2020.
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