Lola
POETRY FORMAT, 6 Feb 2023
Sumeet Grover – TRANSCEND Media Service
Love is
in her dough as she
kneads it with both hands,
mixes za’atar spice;
in the voice of her silence
as she picks up her landline
one late night, and hears me weep;
in her needle as she sews
a banner for some burning forest,
and another for the displaced families
of the Danezaa people.
Love is
in her old legs as she
walks by the Salish Sea,
feeds a flock of seagulls, sips
tea from a thermos cup, and photos
clear waters for our
children to come.
Love is
in her fingers as she strokes
the trunk of a London plane tree,
born long before she was,
on fertile soil of Tavistock Square;
in her alphabets as she writes
another letter, urging men who
read speeches before cameras
to stop selling death
for Yemeni mothers.
Love is
when I read her poems, recall her verses
but I never tell her;
when I think of all she has ever said,
things my mother never,
but I never tell her;
Love is
in her filtered coffee on the breakfast table,
as she plans a new courtyard of peace
in her lover’s home: a man she met when
for the final time
she wanted to be in love.
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Sumeet Grover is the founder of Global Poetry, dedicated to creativity, human dignity, dialogue and global citizenship. He is a winner of the Portico Brotherton Open Poetry Prize 2014 and was shortlisted for the Jane Martin Poetry Prize in 2014 & 2015. He has authored three books of poetry: Signals (2017), House Arrest & Disobedience (2015) and Change (2011). Grover is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment.
This poem was shortlisted under the ‘highly commended’ category for the Plough Poetry Prize 2022, UK.
Tags: Poetry
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 6 Feb 2023.
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