My parents have a large cupboard
Next to their dinner table.
It has old lamps, albums, pans and pots,
Unused electrical equipment,
And one or two waffle irons.
These days they are repairing it,
After the termites ate the back boards,
That were holding it all together, like a spine.
Now the cupboard has only
Mahogany doors and spacious compartments,
Like my existence is, in the present, my backbone feebler
Than ever, stuffing my lips, with my wife’s mouth,
Reminding myself that the cupboard
Is filled with all sorts of useful things
That time, even with her termite jaws,
Can never crumble to dust.
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Published by meandererworld (Dilantha Gunawardana)
Dr Dilantha Gunawardana graduated from the University of Melbourne, as a molecular biologist, and moonlights as a poet. He currently serves as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Botany, University of Sri Jayewardenepura. Dilantha lives in a chimeric universe of science and poetry. Dilantha’s poems have been accepted for publication /published in HeartWood Literary Magazine, Canary Literary Magazine, Boston Accent, Forage, Kitaab, Eastlit, American Journal of Poetry, Zingara Poetry Review, The Wagon and Ravens Perch, among others. Dilantha too has two anthologies of poetry, 'Kite Dreams' (2016) and 'Driftwood' (2017), both brought to the readership by Sarasavi Publishers, and is working on his third poetry collection (The Many Constellations of Home). Dilantha’s pet areas of teaching and research, include, Nitrogen Fixation, RNA biology, Phytoremediation, Agricultural Biology, and Bioethics & Biosafety. Dilantha blogs at – https://meandererworld.wordpress.com/ -, where he has nearly 2000 poems.
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