THE FOLLOWING POEM WAS SELECTED IN WINGWORD POETRY PRIZE 2023 LONGLIST.

We live in terror and trauma

Afraid of our children’s lives,

Ending prey to tigers and bears.

Wild boars trampling upon paddy fields

Like farmers separate pepper seeds from its fiber.

We wake up at the dead of night

Hearing elephants breaking bamboo stems,

Drinking water and roaring from across the river.

Farmers at night watch, waving fireballs and bursting

Crackers from our houses to scare them away.

By dusk we assure our hens and cows and goats

Are in their shelters; we close our doors too.

Self-imposed curfew in fear of death.

Animals might attack us on the road.

We pray for father when returning late.

No tiger shall attack him on his way back home.

Farmers preparing traps, digging huge pits

In their farms to catch wild swine.

Sleep deprived them with lighted lanterns

Take turns in watch duty.