Introduction to the Poet:
Sanam Sharma is a poet based in Melbourne, Australia. He migrated to Australia from India back in 1999. He has published her first volume of poetry entitled Tamed Words in July 2016.
Those mourning Grandmas
It was spooky, and chaotic.
Often, overwhelming,
than solemn.
Death,
was baleful,
and ominous,
in that sleepy little village
I grew up in. Courtesy, a bunch of veiled, elderly,
howling women,
who had been entrusted with
the unkind task,
of announcing
deaths,
to the rest of the village.
Their haunting gnarls,
aptly effective
in gathering
flash mobs-
of mourners, and onlookers, alike.
My granny, too, no exception.
Stepping out, at the first hint
of a fatality
pacing through the uneven,
dusty, village streets,
eager, to join the brigade
of her contemporaries – those
bawling ladies
already immersed in theatrical sorrowing.
Once there, granny leapt in too,
into that high pitched, synchronized,
sob-fest.
Shrouded in veils, the platoon of
grannies mourned the departed
relentlessly.
Rehearsed histrionics – thumping chests – rhythmic boohoos – all expended, to improvise and enhance performance.
The ones who ran out of breath,
did not give in, instead,
whimpered on gently
until they herded back the energy, and
the howls.
Just as one thought, the
pandemonium had mellowed
collapsed a fragile granny, or two.
And so it went on, for a bit more.
A loud, and lasting farewell.
If cheerleading ever needed an antonym,
It had to be that bunch of keening grannies in my village.