My pick for this month's showcase is the exquisite Shiksha Dheda whose recent flurry of publications is a testament to her talent. Just wait until you reach the last line of her heartbreaking poem!
The Writer
Shiksha Dheda is a South African of Indian descent. She uses poetry (mostly) to express her internal and external struggles and journeys, inclusive of her OCD and depression roller-coaster ventures. Mostly, however, she writes in the hopes that someday, someone will see her as she is; an incomplete poem.
Her work has been featured (on/forthcoming) in Mixed Mag, The Daily Drunk, Visual Verse, The Kalahari Review, Off Menu Press, Brave Voices, Glitchwords, Versification, and others. You can connect with her on twitter @ShikshaWrites.
The Poem
Shore
You keep me at sea;
never let me walk upon the stable
earth of man.
I wander from land to land,
meeting and leaving innumerable people;
yet I cannot find the shore that I seek.
You prohibit me from throwing down my anchor,
from settling down; unlike
so many others that have come before me.
And that will come after I am gone.
You give me no direction
-no clue-
-no guidance.
Just like the vast mass of endless water,
are the many intangible pieces
of the puzzling questions
I have to ask you.
How was I to know?
That to reach your shore, I would
have to drown first.
The inspiration behind the poem:
I wrote this poem at a point that I felt particularly helpless and directionless. I felt as though everything was too overwhelming for me; almost as though I were a sailor on a small boat – stuck at sea, subjected to the ocean’s every whim and fancy, not having a choice of my own. It reflects my own battles with mental illness. I often feel as though I am helpless against the whims of my disorder(s). I have stopped fighting against them [the disorders] and recently, have unfortunately succumbed to them, to a large extent. There are many days wherein I cannot discern where my disorder ends and where I begin.
You can connect with Shiksha on twitter or on her website. Her debut poetry collection "Washed Away" is out soon with Alien Buddha Press.
Disclaimer: EMC's Writer of the Month series seeks to promote the artist and their featured writing and is in no way an endorsement of any of said artist's services, opinions or other work outside of this feature.
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