Sunbath

By Ayaan Halder

The Sun today is a remnant of my mother

and of a time when she hadn’t grown weary of me, and herself.

And of clawing away at the orange peels 

which spiraled between her fingers, 

And then gathered at the foot of her bamboo-knit murha;

which she had carried with her when she had slithered up the hills.

And on which she used to curl up, 

as if she were in her own womb.

Come a cold winter afternoon. 

murha – A traditional stool made in Assam usually using cane and bamboo sticks.

Ayaan Halder is a poet, author and Doctoral Research Scholar from Gauhati university, Guwahati, Assam. His works have been published in various national and international platforms such as Sahitya Akademi’s Indian Literature Magazine, The Wire, The Little Journal of Northeast India, Kitaab Magazine, and Littera Magazine. His work mostly revolves around the coexistences and contestations in the day to day lives of indigenous and diasporic populations in India’s Northeast.

Subscribe to our newsletter To Recieve Updates

    The Latest
    • Matchbox by Usawa October‘25 Issue

      This edition of Matchbox by Usawa explores the patterns, customs, and structures

    • The Intimate Affair Of Mortality And Disgust

      A haunting meditation on death’s intimacy, despair, and allure

    • The Room Of A Parallel World

      Sohini Sen’s The Dandelions Have It blends nature, mind, and oneness

    • The Book of Death

      A child’s surreal grief: shame, scream, and haunted theatrical silence

    You May Also Like
    • Listening to my Body – all of it by Satyen Khashu

      in this essay satyen khashu shares his journey listening to his body through the

    • Untold lives by Vaikhari Aryat

      When my grandmother, Achamma, cried out for Kunjumon on her deathbed, I thought

    • The Dark Valley of Fear and Other Poems By Bibhu Padhi

      Barbie can be a mother, and a good Muslim, married to a Salim