Notes on Marination - Poems by Atimanyu Vashishth

Atimanyu Vashishth
1 min read

t happened before it could happen again. I gave up trying to light my cigarette With an incense stick.

Notes on Marination - Poems by Atimanyu Vashishth

Notes on Marination

A drizzle of peanut oil.
Salt to taste.
Crushed red chilli powder.
A touch of asafoetida.
The kitchen faucet…
Dripping,
Needing a new washer
—old rubber.
Sound of saliva,
Being sucked out.
Lemon juice rubbed over the meat.
A generous sprinkle of fenugreek.
She found me,
Marinating in my own mediocrity.

Baap…

My anger is acutely childlike.
I cannot stay angry
With anyone for a long time.
It is rather animated.
I hold back
The habitual
Serenity of my face;
Only to seemingly
Incite myself artificially
And keep the creases
On my forehead intact.
One might at times
Even catch
An innocent smile leak.
It’s simplistically silly.
Just the same.
…
In many ways
I am not very dissimilar
To my father.

Insidiously Smoking

It happened
Before it could happen again.
I gave up
Trying to light my cigarette
With an incense stick.
If combusting
Beyond grief
Is what it takes,
Then
So be it…
Author avatar
Atimanyu Vashishth
Atimanyu Vashishth is an artist and poet. He is currently also a Course Master at the Architectural Association School of Architecture, London. He devises his practice through a freeform process of iteratively developing and directing poetry, screen printing and performance under a framework that he calls ‘Devised Domesticities’. He writes of the psychotropic anticipation that is there in romance.
June 26, 2025

More Poems (3)

The House That Remembers

The House That Remembers