Five of Us by Jayasri Sridhar

18 lines
Issue 9 (Winter 2025)

Before the world turned into a dustbowl,
We didn’t dream our roof would become a refuge.
Friends stream in, sit by the pond, watch the fish,
Feed the birds. In those days, our love
Was as new as it was alien. We raised it
Hidden from the eyes of that falling, failing world,
Forming a family furtively, tenderly, glacially,
A five-fold heart, of colours and bodies and minds varied.

Today, the town grows around our home,
Tends to our garden of herbs, seeks our counsel
On matters of trade and conflict and survival.
Our acceptance shouldn’t have taken a collapse;
Our punishers shouldn’t have borne that cost.
All it should have taken is a village;
Not ash-caked cities, shattered. Recovering —
All we did was live for each other,
A little kinder, a little more out, and from the dust
Rose a garden brighter than Eden.

Jayasri Sridhar is a filmmaker, designer, musician and writer from India. Her practice merges critical inquiry and creative exploration to engage deeply with ecological, social, and more-than-human themes. As a storyteller and systems thinker, she moves across the mediums of words, film, lettering, research, sound and space. Her work has found homes in film festivals, international conferences, and various literary, academic and speculative publications, including Strange Horizons, Insubordinate Vitalities (Writing Natures Vol 02), Bilori Journal, Kyoorius Designyatra, Hakara Journal and Patina Magazine. A Hindustani classical singer in training, avid reader and traveller, she loves new learning and meaningful collaborations with people from across the world; find her at jayasrisridhar.com.
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