Monologue
By Laila Brahmbhatt
Like leave-in conditioner,
gently softening the pores of solitude,
I let my body rest in the care of a drizzle
that seeps into every ruin.
​
Mind drifts like confetti,
dangling from a chandelier of scattered ash
beneath a nebulous sky.
​
I stretch my tongue
along each rivulet
syllables arriving and departing
like a station master on a train platform.
​
Wondering when the stars will fall,
​
I close my eyes slowly,
​
as the lizard walks, too,
​
through the stillness
when nothing else moves.
Laila Brahmbhatt, is a writer with roots in Kashmir. Her ancestors came from that beautiful region of India and eventually settled in Bengal and Bihar, where she spent her early years.For the past 14 years, sh has worked as a Senior Consultant in New York. Laila's haiku have been published in various international magazines, including Cold Moon Journal, Five Fleas Itchy Poetry, Shadow Pond Journal, Fresh Out Magazine, and Under the Basho. Her haibun has appeared in Failed Haiku. Additionally, Laila's poems have been published in newspapers such as Kashmir Pen, The Madras Courier, and NII Journal.