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Vijaya Sundaram is the current Poet Laureate (2023-2025) for the City of Medford, Massachusetts. Her first collection of poems titled Fractured Lens was published in 2023 by Červená Barva Press. She has written short stories, plays and a short novel (not yet published). Her poetry and short pieces have appeared in publications like The Rising Phoenix Press, The Stardust Review, and TELL Magazine, among others. Vijaya’s statement about poetry: Poetry, to my mind, is the clarion call that urges us to see both the fullness and barrenness of life along with its joys and griefs; to experience the world with empathy and love; to create new landscapes and stories in distilled language, and to share our experiences in words that might be able to evoke those same experiences in others.

Sear/ch – A Poem about Drought and Doubt

Vijaya Sundaram

So many
– too many to face –
feelings spilling everywhere,
water carried in a cup
by a remote-faced water-bearer
racing, swift-footed and urgent
across burning sands searching for
… someone who might not be there?

Tired of all the outrage,
the rage, the hot words,
the blood-gush, the ooze
of death, the crushing of hope,
you stop, and wait for cool rain
to wash away everything,
so you can sleep forever,
or perhaps, help you rise up
and fight without hurting.

You hope for calm voices,
for kindness, for food
made by nourishing hands.

You hope for love
that’s deeper than mere
twanging within.
You hope for a place
to lay your head, and
not worry about anyone
anywhere, anymore.

Your hope dries out
in iris-searing heat.

You raise the cup.
You need that water.
You drink, knowing it might be
your last drop.
Perhaps, it will fill up
soon, again.

Hope is hell, but
what else is there to do?
Time to resume what you seek.
You start running.

An ibis looks up
from a water-hole,
almost gone under a
blank, accusing sun,
close, waiting.

— Vijaya Sundaram

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