
She opens her hands,0 0 Read more
clenched for years
in a tight fist
like a new-born,
but these fists hold no secrets
of a mother’s womb,
no innocence, or dreams freshly sown—
instead, their hardened skin bears
lacerations that come
from a hard grip
on a fugitive soul
sliding mercilessly
into the devil's pit
deep, deep
where she buried
old wounds
(c) Neetu M.

Hope, like the horizon
glimmers in the distance
my eyes grow weary
as I watch it burn
then cool in the twilight
each day until
darkness sweeps
over the edges and I can see
no more
only to repeat when I wake
from sleep
once again, clinging to
fine rays as they
emerge in luminous shades
above sleepy slopes
assuring me
there is no end
to Hope.
© Neetu Malik
2 1 Read more
A Parting0 0 Read more
I hold fragments
of you
in my ash-grazed hands
to put them
in an urn
they sound like
empty shells as I
drop them one by one
the fullness
in my heart leaves
no room for echoes
I know your footsteps
will never return.
© Neetu M

I carve words in the sand
I know the tide will rise
and wash them away
but I write them
until my hands are gritty
and the color of sand
I speak to the waves
I know they don’t hear
but I let the words roll out
of my mouth anyway
until they sound
like the waves
I listen to the wind
even when it is still
I can hear silence in the quiet
it utters words I wouldn’t
otherwise hear—they come
from within
© Neetu Malik
First published in TAT Poetry, December 2016
3 1 Read more

Neetu Malik’s poetry is an expression of life’s rhythms and the beat of the human spirit. She draws upon diverse multicultural experiences and observations across three continents in which she has lived. She has contributed to The Australia Times Poetry Magazine, October Hill Magazine, Prachya Review, among others. Her poems have appeared in The Poetic Bond Anthology V and VI published by Willowdown Books, UK, NY Literary Magazine’s Tears Anthology and Poetic Imagination Anthology (Canada).
Her poem, “Soaring Flames”, was awarded First-Place by the NY Literary Magazine (2017). She has also been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, 2019 for her poem “Sacred Figs” published by Kallisto Gaia Press in their Ocotillo Review in May, 2018.
Neetu lives in Pennsylvania, USA.
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