Mother


I take you
like a paper doll
and crumple you
because I find that
the noise you make
drowns out the real sound
of your bones ageing
and you fading.

Shruti is a 24-year-old literature postgraduate from Jawaharlal Nehru University. By day she’s an editor at a children’s publishing house and a word-ninja by night. Her favourite movie is Jaani Dushman---Sonu Nigam had her at his red spandex pants and she hasn’t felt love like that ever since.

Tara is an aspiring artist/illustrator from New Delhi. She's not good at much else. Literature and sporadic post-hardcore obsessions keep her doodling.