RED DOOR 24

MADHUMATHI. H
OLFACTION OF LOVE
Everytime she breaks the cinnamon sticks, or
Crushes the pods of cardamom
A smile blooms, thinking of him
As a whiff of love-scented memories intoxicate
the air...
Jaggery, and ghee melting
Rose petals softly landing upon desserts...
While peeling the oranges, his citrus-anger she
loves
Freshly plucked turmeric, his stolen kisses...
Jasmine buds, of sweet silences
So many fragrances bursts in her heart as his
memories
That perfume her soul...
He is remembered as a scent, a spoor of love
Wherever she turns...
Like the beautiful bottles of perfumes
Memories are collected and treasured
In the shelves of her heart...
Test strips lay untouched
For
Wholeness is love
And he is adored for all the notes...
Sandal incense carried the voice, of his hushed
eyes
While the sky blushed, drawing the drowsy
blue curtains...
Ah! A sudden jolt!
The doorbell!
Her dream evaporated
She lost her sense of smell for a moment
Odourless tears silently flowed
Love suffered Anosmia.
MADHUMATHI (India).
Bilingual poet, writer (English, Tamil), Madhumathi
is an ardent lover of nature, poetry, photography,
and music. She loves to spread mental
health awareness through writing, strongly
believing in the therapeutic power of words,
and takes part in related awareness activities
to break the stigma, and reiterate the importance
of empathy.
Madhumathi’s poems are published in Anthologies
of Poetry Society India, Chennai Poetry
Circle-CPC, India Poetry Circle-IPC, and Poetic
Prism. Muse India(UGC approved), International
Writer’s Journal, Science Shore, Our Poetry
Archives, Positive Vibes are some of the e-zines
her poems are published with.
multicoloredmoon.wordpress.com/
RICHARD TEMPLE
KEEP ON PUMPING
One hundred and six kilos
of meat, blubber and wiry hair.
Pressure mounting; actions; reactions
as crumbling ivory grinds.
Steel tendons straining,
cracking bone, and leaking marrow.
Gravity dragging like quicksand,
its subtle force crushing,
as chemistry battles nature
to tease open canals of slick red heat.
To wrestle the grey slug,
where mind clings to a phantom of vitality.
Youth.
Energy.
Clarity.
Scarred bellows threaten collapse
with every stinging inhalation.
Wallowing in damp flannelette gasps.
Drawing a muddy memory of breath.
Fragile cartilage creaks and clicks,
as potions burn in gullet.
The lumbering creature flounders,
energy spent through years of disarray.
Focus; a fantastic beast
glimpsed through fogged and cracked glass.
Names and faces blurred to one
leave debris of bewildered distress
and a muffled clatter of voices,
heard, but lost in a thick mire
of ancient feculent compost.
Grasping for thought in its felted cell,
finding only fleeting clues
and an abstract carousel of dimly lit hopes.
And yet, it is so unspeakably tiny.
Helpless; inconsequential.
How did time lay so much weight
on such a fragile spark?
So much expectation
on such a flimsy web?
The one remaining dream:
to keep on pumping.
RICHARD TEMPLE, (Wales)
Richard Temple is a performing poet and student
of creative writing at Lampeter University in Wales.
He is the singer and bass player with the band Dog
Food and has worked previously in music promotion,
video and performance art, as well as song
writing and digital design. His poetry tries to grasp
the common experience of what it is to be human,
through captured streams of consciousness or
collages of visualised imagery.
.
ISSUE #24 - VISUALIZE - FALL 2020 35