Tara Menon, India-USA
This year the oaks have asserted themselves,
tossing their masterpieces—
spinning tops, baskets, nature’s currency,
brown caps, woolen berets,
glistening clay bowls, artsy containers with lids,
delicate faces with topknots,
sculpted heads with woven hair,
finger cymbals, crunchy pebbled pathway.
Each acorn harbors a secret, a treasure,
which the squirrels rush to bury.
The best seeds will burst forth from the ground
to stand tall, pointing heavenward,
blessing the perplexed,
telling us to use our imagination
to shape our destiny.
Tara Menon is a freelance writer based in Lexington, Massachusetts. Her poetry has been published in the following journals and anthologies: Blue Minaret, The Bangalore Review, voices of eve, Calliope, Lalitamba, Azizah Magazine, Aaduna, Yellow as Turmeric, Fragrant as Cloves, the view from here, and 10x3 plus poetry. Menon’s nonfiction has appeared in The Courtship of Winds, The Boston Globe, The Kenyon Review, Green Mountains Review, Color Magazine, Fjords Review, Na’amat Woman, Calyx, India Currents, Parabola, India New England, and Hinduism Today. Her fiction has been published in Catamaran, The APA Journal, Many Mountains Moving, India Currents, The South Carolina Review, Living in America and Mother of the Groom.