– Rachneet Randhawa

Said you have a daughter 
Swim to the moon and swoon to her
Tune 
Her qualities are not 
Me 
But she is a 
Rare candy 
Dug carefully out of the loping hillside 
Can’t have it scuffed
Tears
Dents
Ripped 
Despair   

Never taught her to think
For 
Herself
Protect
Guard 
Adorn
All the same sane 
Game 
Oh you shame 
No Bloom 
But bud discreetly 
With that utopias pied 
Garden
Of gems and glory  
That you place around 
Her 
Once remember you told a helpless lass
She 
Deserved 
It 
Oh the irony of 
Tables turning 
Lap your tongues 
Sucks in your 
Cheeks 
As you play the pied pipers 
Maze
I don’t play you
Anymore  

Excuses 
To not be 
Present 
To be present 
Is worth none
tables turn too
I pity the dab -ness of your slow demise  
Because you are in the dashing night
Oh so fab  
Of use 
To its winding ego 
No more  

But
I warn the others 
Of this 
Insane 
Maim
To her self worth
Brow beaten 
Forever left 
A hole in her heart 
And now 
Reboot 
Rebuilt  
I see the beauty in her ancient ruins  
Brokenness 
Mysterious fascination
As you now 
Step right up 
And 
Take a swing 
Once more
I know your secret recipe 
Batters 
Up   

Dreaming of 
wondrous water colours  
above the valley lake 
kind lady’s house 
rolling dipped hills
late summer 
afternoon
vikings say
clear boating days 
above the blue jewelled 
horizon 
sheets of 
bliss 
Remember 
Pastel pinks and
passed out ivory
Purples and 
Blurred blues 
goosed greens
Hinged hues 
Fringes of 
You 
Stain and ensue
Drudge dripping 
A topsy turvy swim in the 
Starless night
Heavy is the never ending
Nightmare 
Heavy is being two minutes
Too late 
To catch the school bus 
Heavy is the coma-like
Side trip 
Heavy is
The coy black hole of desperation you breathed through 
The year after graduation
Twelfth grade 

Culled fiendish shadows from 
empty school playgrounds
Make do basketball courts 
Cracked glass bus stop booth
Always  
And backdoor alleyways 
Cartoonish graffiti sprays the threads of her 
Bound wrists 
Wash mix with salted water 
For still she smiles
Even in darkness 
Laces of liquid delight
Light up her eyes 
Her kindness and giving tangled 
And tucked quietly away  
In glorious smudged streams 
Because I see the 
Pitter patter of the sweet
Caressed rain 
Embalming her heart with 
watercolours enchantment 
Because I see not her 
who or what
But her why 
On an early spring morning
vibrancy of the ocean tide
Timidness of the river 
On a late summer afternoon
The delicious melt of a snow
Crystal 

She told me to
look 
beyond the 
nudging shadows 
look
beneath the 
watercolours 
And
turn my face 
shyly 
to the tide 
kaleid-escapic 
aqua flowers 
make me 
scream 
aura abyss 
nostalgic 
her gaze 
you go this way
but once 
she said
Meet me below the 
watercolours 
dare you dream
dare you make 
a reality