19
Poem
Shourya Agarwal & Kees Heetdeks Isley’s Icecream. Bleached white walls dripping on Jem and Scout. The parlour melting between tongue strokes, White splattered on dark palatesHansel and Gretel’s gingerbread house. Just more cozy and without the witch. Jem looks out at the counter, An earnest smile crashing onto An upturned upper-lip sprinkled with scorn. A small ant-trail, milky white Trickles into his shoe. Scout notices but chooses to unsee. Cream filled to the brim in Jem’s throat He can only speak in ice-cream gobbles To spill everything onto Scout. A large splash of white on the table A lot of cold...enveloping the siblings. A lot of laughter in that deathly grip Jem Scout The Day of reckoning The Day of challenge A hopeful call An eavesdropped call Jem gets to join a pack of wolves Scout rushed ahead to pack Comradery between half-baked men the gladiator armour Strength of the wolf is the pack The icy numbness of evenings Strength of the pack is the wolf without her brother. He thinks these men will give him everything She echoes back his happiness Except what he precisely needs. Smiles lighting one another like candles A frantic search in a dingy closet A chest strapped to the gladiator armour. A heavy emptiness underneath Scout helps put on the pads Wishes him luck for the Contest of…champions
A frantic boy projecting Onto his need for her Worrying She tosses him the keys To his own demise Tickets to his downfall
