THREE POEMS by SHIKSHA DHEDA

written by the poet at age 16

The Rosebud

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The Wind

It’s always there;

perhaps you haven’t noticed

it all that often.

It’s always there;

blowing,

whistling,

singing,

weeping

-narrating tales-

-old and new,

of unsaid romances and unlived memories of tame youth.

It’s always there;

singing a song

-sometimes humming,

-sometimes whispering so softly you

hardly notice it at all.

Sometimes it stops singing altogether

and dances

–wildly, out of control–

to a beat entirely of its own.

It’s always there

-listening, singing, dancing-

an old companion;

an old lover

of the earth.

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Naked Words

plain words

with no message

no purpose

no punctuation

a naked picture of

naked language best enjoyed

and understood when

left undecorated

it becomes a child’s simple

thought

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Shiksha Dheda (she/her) is a South African of Indian descent. She uses writing to express her OCD and depression roller-coaster ventures. Sometimes, she dabbles in photography, painting, and baking lopsided layered cakes. She rambles annoyingly on Twitter. You can find (or ignore) her here.