An MA from Kings College, London, Aparna Sanyal is a writer, theatre producer, and award- winning furniture designer. A popular Spoken Word poet, she performs at events across venues in India. Her page poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in literary journals such as Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, The Same, Leaves of Ink, Anapest—The Paragon Journal, Duane’s Poetree, Califragile, A Writer’s Haven Blog.

She lives with her 3-year-old son and husband in Pune, India.

Midnight In My Garden

The chirrrr of crickets’ legs
Awaken me this midnight
In a moon-drenched garden sudden
Activity bursts in blaring honks
of light and sound
The cat is afield
Field mice, sleeping birds
and my nights’ slumber—unwilling equal prey
Insect sentinels fog horn
Every sultry step she advances
Towards scuttling creatures
Shying into foliage and up tree trunks
Blurring into backgrounds of smudgy inks
And shivering leaves
I crane my neck out, still
Waiting, waiting we are all one
Paused biome tonight
Then
Explosion!  A starting cry is cut off
A whiskered impression disappears
Lightning quick
She has made her kill
And the earth heaves a sigh
Subsides, it is done
Stygian darkness now
This act of violence has returned
The garden to a state of sated tranquillity
I shut my window, return myself
To dreams of creatures that chase
Somewhere in a shiny, frantic space
Ceaseless running dreamscape
The garden is my resting place
The cat sits on my chest
Messes grit on my grave as it pounces
Fusses, settles for a meal
Warm liquid awakens me
The tang is blood, I take it
Awake now, from a dream of life
To sleep in this cats’ embrace tonight