The latest forward on WhatsApp

I am but a consumer

And distributor

Of sweets

Of pretty gift wrapping boxes

Of festive wishes

Those I too, am guilty

Of recycling

There is that déjà vu

To every GIF

Every video selling me

Good health, Crystals and Vastu

New markets for Organic sweets

We discussed at a Pre-Diwali soirée

Which niche store

Keeps the rum and raisin chocolates

The cocoa beans sourced from Brazil

After all…

Exhausting to handle phone storage

With a flood of greetings

From people who wish me annually

Only to disappear into oblivion

Until the next major festival

I consume the same air

Selling me the same things

As my neighbor

I want to move

From darkness to light

That soul sort of thing

The news tells me the pollution is less

And yet….

*

Vandana Kumar is a French teacher, recruitment consultant and poet in New Delhi, India. Her poems have been published in national and international websites like ‘Mad Swirl’, ‘Scarlet Leaf Review’, ‘North of Oxford’, ‘Grey Sparrow Journal’, ‘Lothlorien Poetry Journal’, ‘The Piker Press’, ‘The Writing Disorder’, ‘The Drabble’, ‘Bard & Prose’, ‘Dissident Voice’, ‘Halcyon Days’, ‘Founder’s favourites’, ‘W-Poesis’, ‘Borderless journal’, ‘Madras Courier’, ‘Outlook’, A Turkish newspaper ‘Sungurlu’, Glomag etc. She has featured in literary journals like ‘Fine Lines’ and anthologies like ‘Harbinger Asylum’, ‘Kali Project’ (‘Kali Project’ is now in the ‘North Carolina Regional Library’), ‘But You Don’t Look Sick’ etc. Indie Blu(e) Publishing featured her as one of their authors on their website. She is also a contributing author in the short stories anthology ‘Cocoon Stories: Imprints of Childhood’, published by Authorspress, India.  Her cinema articles appear regularly in ‘Just-cinema’ and Daily Eye. She was a jury member for the ‘All India Poetry Competition’ organized by ‘Cocoa-Butter’ and also co-edited their debut print anthology that resulted from this competition.