List of Confessions

Photo by Álvaro Serrano on Unsplash

One,

You should try writing a love letter to yourself,

I have written one to myself,

it took me 17 years to complete it,

that's also how long it took 

for me to decide 

if I loved myself.

Two,

I believe that the heart is flat 

in our minds,

that's why it is so easy to 

rekindle a wound

and also why 

everything is just a finger's distance from healing.

Three,

I forgot my own phone number

at a cafe coffee day counter,

she kept repeating 

the first few numbers that I had uttered

without giving me space to think,

maybe we are all her 

when it comes to counting our mistakes.

Four,

I have a thing for languages,

both for those I understand and those that I don't, 

I would listen to hours and hours of urdu poetry 

without knowing what it meant,

maybe that is also one kind of silence.

Five,

I have thought too often about 

what I would name myself 

if not for what I have been named,

everytime I think I might be close to an answer,

amma calls me by my name

so dearly 

that I conclude that names aren't made up of letters but by voices that sing it.

(c) Vasanthi