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Curse of the Desert
Ill-tempered droughts strip lands of foliage sheath.
Its barren womb still yields a wilted crust
that liberates, from layers underneath,
a swell of ruffled soil and choking dust.
Fluorescent flares and roars of forking light,
that carve the palms of charcoal-tainted skies,
make flickers of abated hope ignite
chimeras in a mortal dweller’s eyes,
yet flaking shores remain unquenched as clouds
somnambulantly stray and then proceed.
An arbitrary whim of flighty crowds
of blooming billows indisposed to bleed.
Thus hexed, the fabled glory and allure
of Kutch now languishes without a cure.
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Stuti Sinha is an Indian writer & musician who lives in Dubai. In 2023, she was acclaimed in the San Antonio Writers Guild Poetry Competition, Erbacce Poetry Competition, The Passionfruit Review Poetry Contest and selected as a finalist in the DiBiase Poetry Contest. She has been published by the Society of Classical Poets, Sky Island Journal, Celestite Poetry, Moss Puppy Magazine, Slice of Life Lit Mag, Duck Duck Mongoose Mag, and Sonder Magazine, amongst others.
Stuti, I am among those who never knew India had a desert. I have lived in a semi-arid region of West Texas with cactus, mesquite, and tarantulas, but still find it difficult to imagine such a desert bereft of any life like the Gobi, the Sahara, and now the Kutch. This is a great poem that brings the reality of the desert into vivid view. The picture above it adds to the solemnity of your well-crafted words. Excellent work and cause for a pause in our contemplation.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read. India has such diverse landscape. It feels a privilege to be able to write about some of that which has inspired me.
Thus hexed, the fabled glory and allure
of Kutch now languishes without a cure.
A great final couplet, highlighting how climate change is affecting one of the more marginal environments on Planet Earth.
Thanks for the read, Stuti.
Thank you for taking the time to read Paul. Your words ‘marginal environments’ struck a chord with me.
I take the “fabled glory and allure” of Kutch to be the Indus Valley civilization that declined about 3000 years ago because of climate change at that time. But I did read about recent hopes for rain, and that seems to be the picture in your second quatrain, Stuti. The hopes must have been dashed as you describe in the third quatrain. What an experience for a “mortal dweller” to hope for the “cure” of the desert in his or her lifetime–even if the result is only temporary foliage. The sonnet is a fabulous triptych of (1) droughts that tend to maintain a desert landscape, (2) dramatic signs that rain may restore greenery, and (3) the ease with which promising clouds disappear. How often this must have occurred during the millennia of the White Desert’s existence! The poem gives us a feeling for it.
Thank you Margaret for taking the time to read. You aptly said, that this situation of droughts followed by the hope of rain, is mocked by disappearing clouds. Kutch is one place amongst many that is affected by this kind of drastic climatic experience, and sadly, these occurrences hurt civilizations then and continue to pose a threat even now.
What a lovely surprise to read your beautiful sonnet this morning. My neighbors are from India. Thanks Stuti.
Thank you Allegra for taking the time to read.
Stuti, I’m currently reading a tome about British social life during the Raj, which has educated me about the diversity of India’s climate (malaria was always a huge concern, and the monsoon rains a challenge). It seems that India’s climate is somewhat like America’s with tropical, temperate, desert, and cold-weather zones.
Hi Cheryl,
Thank you for taking the time to read. That is absolutely correct and therefore there is also the diversity in landscape, people, cultures, foods, languages, traditions etc. depending on the specific conditions of the region. If these are books you’re reading, I’d love to have some recommendations please 🙂
Absolutely superb! I love your use of imagery: charcoal-tainted skies, chimeras in a mortal dweller’s eyes… so many gems or should I say scintillating ‘hexes’ in the ‘curse.
Thank you Rohini for taking the time to read and for your generous appreciation
Very well written, Stuti! It is joy to read such a well-crafted poem. Beautifully descriptive. Every line a delight and a wonderful final couplet.
Thank you Gary for taking the time to read and for your wonderful words of appreciation
I too never thought about deserts in India, thinking more of its southern, famously monsoon-drenched regions. The Kutch, reminded me of what is arguable the biblical Cush — which has similar deserts — the afar. The human hopes rising and falling with the wind of nature, which is a phenomenon common to all, is well illustrated in its most extreme forms here. Very pleasant to see sonnets of serious craftsmanship.
Thank you Daniel for taking the time to read.
I am delighted that this has been a doorway for people to know a little bit about deserts in India. I happen to have lived for the longest time in one of those ‘monsoon-drenched’ regions in India, you’ve mentioned. Ironically I now live in the desert in Middle East 🙂
Dear Stuti, your use of such refined language not only gives us a glimpse into the formation of Kutch but also explains why it (or just every desert) is ‘cursed’. I also like the way you’ve portrayed certain natural events with words like forking light, charcoal-tainted skies, etc. The part, ‘flickers of abated hope ignite chimeras in a mortal dweller’s eyes’ strikes hard because the same is true for farmers of the equatorial regions, whose hopes die every day due to lack of rainfall. This poem is a complete package of excellent articulation and precision.
Thanks Shamik. I truly appreciate the time you’ve taken to read the piece and write such a detailed comment.