The omniscient eye
OORMILA VIJAYAKRISHNAN PRAHLAD
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On Victoria Avenue
sits a mauve shop house in a grand row of four, a century old with a half-circle window on its parched forehead-- an omniscient Cyclops Eye of gold. it’s cold and the clouds are closing in twilight drapes like a purple pall the lone yellow eye of the shop house window looks out at the lights of Chatswood mall where all the behemoths glint and glow in the last flaxen rays of dwindling light ten thousand windows, studded gems-- testaments to steel and concrete might. at night the shop house window mulls pondering an end that steadily draws near in ten years, or five maybe even a year the steel giants are sure to come trampling here. |
A tryst with the roses
OORMILA VIJAYAKRISHNAN PRAHLAD
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in the oppressive heat of midsummer
polyester frocks and ruffle-lace bottoms-- mother’s idea of toddler fashion feels like sheer punishment. behind the canopy of canna lilies I strip down to just my bloomers running through the rose garden a feral Mowgli, black curls bouncing patting heads of hibiscus pewter pots brimming with petunias as mother’s disapproving voice trails a quivering shrillness behind me. the thorns on the rows of rose bushes etch scribbles into my sun-baked skin welts of white in criss-crossed lines hair-thin rivulets of blood marbling into grains of maroon. while mother chases, calling my name my doffed dress hoisted high in her exasperated grip the skies rend without warning monsoon clouds with cheeks puffed blue spewing torrents upon the earth. the loam wakes up hissing water sizzling through startled cracks droplets nipping pinpricks on my scratches as I watch the dried blood on my arms dribble back to life, streaming while the roses laugh convulsing in the rain. |
Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad is a Sydney artist, poet, and pianist of Indian heritage. She is a member of the North Shore Poetry Project and Authora Australis. Her recent works have been published in Poets Resist, The Eunoia Review, the Ekphrastic Review, Neologism, and several other literary journals in Australia, US, Canada, and the UK.