Suspended

'Tis improper for a wench
Of pond'rous (wee) built to then
Be likewise p o n d e r o u s in bent of
Mind

Lest when time's
Wheels have turned
And returned

Hope has bloomed and withered, After
Springs, autumns, cocoons, metamorphoses, After
Women and cities ha' been raped and rebuilt, After
Space's orbs have shifted their arcs, Again

Heart has weathered slights, storms, More yet
Have grown childhood's playmates
Time has eaten into itself, More yet

She should be here
Still ponderous
Still
Ponderous
In built and bent

The Birds and the Baee

There are, broadly, two types of creatures that make a lifestyle out of walking on two legs: birds and humans. I believe that my maid, who bears an uncanny resemblance to the latter, is actually a highly trained ostrich or another of such twiggy legged birds who are proud possessors of a vacant stare and an unshakably thick air.

This is not the wild surmise of an individual desperately trying to make sense of the world around her. Although I am. Desperately trying. From what I’ve heard, in ways more than one.

About the maid-ostrich association, it is a conclusion I have drawn from experiments repeated more than once, always yielding consistent results:

• I point out to her that she hasn’t cleaned the counter under the stove. She gives me a glassy stare, cocks (or hens) her head, blinks a number of times and then proceeds to clean the counter around the stove.
• I show her a utensil which bears traces of last night’s dinner. She asks me in a high-pitched voice that resembles a bird squawk trying to be a bird song: Will four chapattis be enough for the evening?!
• I ask her why she didn’t dust behind the television. She asks me if four chapattis will be enough for the evening.
• I bring to her notice the fact that she was late coming for work today as well. “Will four chapattis be enough for the evening?”, she squawks.

If that’s not a pattern, Britney Spears sings. Cognitively capable beings do not respond in such a manner. I came up with different questions. She could at least try to come up with different answers. Of course, the picture would change in its entirety if she were a highly trained ostrich. So an ostrich she will be, highly trained. And if you’re trying to work out what that makes me, stop right there. I’m sure you have clothes to fold or something to stuff into something else.