Lost Count

Contributor: Ajay Kumar

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My mother has a bag of Okra seeds
she got from her mother.
My mother plants the seeds
from grandmother in batches of eight.

Mother exclaims on the phone
to her mother, my grandmother,
that five out of eight have sprouted.

Vajra is thunder,
& sperm, energy,
weapon of the indra
of gods. Language
never lets go of hands
that speak them,
touch meaning.

Thunder-wet leaves,
this is an emergency,
what are the chances
of me seeing a leaf-doctor?

What are the odds of being first, I know
it only reduces. First first first
first first first
burst
first
thirst.

You were touched by a phallic meaning,
ruined with runes when read aloud guttural.
What is the probability of the last touching the ruined:
last ruin. I think my mother
is finally thinking about the three that didn't sprout,
I’ll call you later, she says.


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Ajay Kumar is a student and writer based in Chennai, India. He served as the editor of Abhivyanjana Magazine for 2017-18. His works have appeared or are forthcoming in The Bangalore Review, Amethyst, Eunoia, Literary Yard, and Isacoustic among others.