Bluest Eyes

Anindita Sarkar 

“An Orchid.” Georgia O’Keefe. Source: MoMa

I’m a gust of wind.
I possess no voice to reclaim.
My diary bleeds with insecurities.
This is how I was raised,
to wrap thorns into a tube
and seal it like a folded leaf;
to admire white purity
and savour sub-textual slurs.
“You are a rare orchid, flowering.”
a buzzword for my mother,
another orchid.
She taught me to tread
on the asphalt sidewalk
frequented by my ancestors,
and to sleep with a smile
on my face,
fantasizing about the bluest eyes.

Anindita Sarkar has an MFA in English Literature and is pursuing an M.Ph. in Comparative Literature from Jadavpur University. She is also an UGC Junior Research Fellow. Her works have recently appeared in Indolent Books, Ariel Chart, Flash Fiction Friday, Scars Publication, Twist and Twain, Otoliths, writing in a woman’s voice, runcible spoon among others. She is from Kolkata,India.