Sunburn

Sunburn

They muted us with
a poisonous smile
and political power.
Then they beheaded
our hills, massacred
trees, buried ponds…
We mistook their new
concrete buildings
for development.

They sit in the chill
of a/c rooms with
prostitutes. Venom
from their deeds’
fangs affects the
earth’s organs.
Climate malfunctions.
Embryo of rain dies
in the womb of cloud.

Sand suffers from
dehydration. These
red wild blossoms
are nature’s fury,
burning bright on
the branches. This
isn’t sunlight, but a
pyre. Life’s wings
are being burnt.

Butterflies don’t
decorate plants.
Flowers are like
breasts of silent
starving women.
Even a tough crow
doesn’t dare to fly.

A poor peasant
falls down, thrust
with sun’s arrows,
in his field of parched
dreams. Sunburn is
our annihilation’s
developmental stage.

My poetic response to climate change in Kerala State. The poem was first published in 'Adhyapaka Lokam' , India, and then reprinted in 'Kanoli Kaleidoscope, by PunksWritePoemsPress, US, again in issue 15 of The Literary Hatchet by Pear Tree Press, US, and finally in Poetic Hustles, by Black Freighter Productions, US.