to feed or not to feed

Images by Diya Batra

Kittu’s sanity is tricking him
and he is dreading its retreat.
On this blazing afternoon, struggling to catch a hold,
he decides to walk towards the forest.

He questions himself; how much do I need to survive? 

Outside the forest, he can very easily dissolve himself in his actions and his bearings to eat everything that fits inside the circumference of his hands.

Five moderately sized chickens – bucket full of fish – thirty oranges – plates full of rice for the feast of the champions and leftovers for the one’s starving.

Filling himself to avoid feeling scarce.

Walking ahead, he removes his hat.
Leaving it to rest under a tree, feeling the need to disperse the heat from his head.

Suddenly,
girls turn into trees,
chameleons burst in an attempt to copy the radiant hues and
the nightingale starts barking raucously. 

Kittu has a liking for the moon.
But how can he risk waiting for the dusk?

His body is formed by culture,
As much as by nature.

The soil erodes when the trees are cleared and so does hunger when nurturing of the
scarcity inside the belly starts to leave behind a foul smell.

The smell similar to when a pigeon died on his terrace
and he wanted to die with him.

There is no funeral for ordinary deaths.
So much gets destroyed in the forest every day,
and much more can come alive with self – sown seeds.

Volume 09

clay | chlorophyll | crimson

Grass is green where you water it. LC’s words float along over Misch’s guitar. It’s a phrase that feels so obvious, and I’m sure those who tend to gardens know this more than most, but it seems to land more than before. The impact noticeable, memorable, echoing through my being. Perhaps we’re ingrained to think it’s greener elsewhere. This patch is the problem and not whether we’re watering it. The key is in the watering. How we go about this practice is what defines our patch of grass. No matter where we go, our patch is, perhaps, the same. Some attributes and characteristics have been changed but the essence is the same: Us.

Stepping into Volume 09 of imprint, marks our third year. I am learning that this patch of green that we have been tending to for the last several years will mould, shift, and sculpt. This depends on how we water it and allow it to take its own shape. It has already happened in wonderfully unexpected ways. There is only so much structure or shape we can predetermine. Beyond that, it will absorb what it needs and reject all that is unnecessary. And perhaps, in this practice, we are changed. Our grass is watered as we water that of our writing, our image making, our practice, our magazine.

From light to dark, rigid to supple, new to old, there is so much in between that is bright and vibrant and unexpected. The practice of our magazine has focused on being open to what we receive; being open to deeply listening to what is shared; being open to work taking us to new journeys. This volume, and this year, will be no different. We will continue tending to it as we have done, learning along the way, from past seasons and present ones.

And yet, I know it will be entirely different.
But still.
It will be watered.