The empty kitchen
I ask the empty kitchen,
If it would miss nani teetering across the hall to get more sweets,
As her hands would slowly fall numb against her side,
I ask if it would miss having her whipping up new things in quiet desolation.
I pick up the photo frames she has left behind,
My mother is a startling image of her.
The borders carry a story of a woman who lived her life as a battlefield, with a quiet end an undeclared victor.
I remember how I would wipe the dust off the old crockery as she would hand me a glass of water that she could not drink anymore.
I ask the empty rooms and an emptier part of me
Why did I never visit enough
I ask the empty kitchen if I deserved any of the love that wafted off the stove during the day
And the lullabies whispered into the night.
But it does not respond.
I lock up the apartment- and leave, hoping that as I reach home, I would know what to do with the boxes she left behind.
There are sarees that she wore so frequently the fabrics threaten to thin out and break apart.
And ones that she never wore.
I hang onto the newness of a world where someone else will eventually have her phone number
With no idea about the flurry of calls to the emergency room it had once endured.
I ask myself in a room full of people
If the empty kitchen thinks of her sometimes,
Or that it would ever respond to someone
Who did not visit enough
Or called daily
As it listened to her weep out of pain
Yet still find courage to limp into the kitchen
At the thought that I will come home again.
The poem is beautifully written! I can imagine your nani and her pain, her last days but also her love for you. The imageries created burn bright, the scenes unfolding before me. Though I can also sense your own anguish, and guilt. But be assured, your nani loves you and led a loving life! And your tribute just adds on to her happiness!
It reminded me too, to give my Nani a call, and visit her soon!
Thank you so much! I know she is in a better place, that’s what I am holding onto. Give your nani a hug from my side too, whenever you visit her 🙂
This poem conveys the relationship between the poet and her Nani beautifully. There is good use of symbolism for example when the poet says, “I pick up the photo frames she has left behind”, referring to the good memories that are embedded in her memory. The photo frame is also used as a metaphor for the poet’s Nani’s life. The poem is filled with good use of literature devices to talk of Nani’s life. The author uses the metaphor of the empty kitchen to refer to the void that is left by Nani’s death. She juxtaposes the loneliness of Nani’s life to the room full of people present. The author realises after her grandmother’s death that she lost her opportunity to spend more time with her and all these people in the room are not more valuable than her Nani right then. The poem ends with the same rhetoric with which Nani spends her days, wondering if the poet will visit her again. The repeated usage of I shows the extent of guilt that the poet puts up on herself. The poem is inherently melancholic but moreover is able to portray that sadness to the reader as well. This is a well written poem that deserves appreciation!
thank you so much. I really appreciate the effort you’ve put in for bringing in such a beautiful interpretation!