house plants
Photo: Karan Madhok
‘the plants once shared an iridescent home / but nothing on the balcony survives / exposed under the naked rays’
on the balcony, we allow untamed
calls of nature—the bright sun & the rain
showers—to determine the fate of our
houseplants. there is an aloe vera:
survivor, provider, its insipid,
essential decorum spruce up the mess
of our urban botany. swaying
in its breathing space is the unsteady
areca palm, flapping to the light breeze,
a backbone unsettled till the next whiff
of wind pushes it away, offended
by the aloe vera’s orbit. we had
a good run, did we not? left unwatered,
the plants once shared an iridescent home
but nothing on the balcony survives
exposed under the naked rays, the sun
will never wait for a revolution.
***
Karan Madhok is a writer, journalist, and editor of The Chakkar, whose fiction, translation, and poetry have appeared in Gargoyle, The Literary Review, The Bombay Review, F(r)iction, and more. He is the founder of the Indian basketball blog Hoopistani and has contributed to NBA India, SLAM Magazine, FirstPost, and more. Karan’s debut novel A Beautiful Decay will be published by the Aleph Book Company in 2022. Twitter: @karanmadhok1.
