Positing the Positive

Hong Kong Disneyland, 2023

Fear feeds all paranoia
Till comfort of safety aches
Greed spells a reckless hunger
That ferociously salivates

Is that hope
That drives them both?
Is it a sense of purpose?
What is life without either –
Identity in crisis?

Complacency cannot win growth
When survival is a race
When that blackhole of belonging
Is scrounging for a place

And even then, to save
What little is left to lose,
Pessimism is a tool
That optimists are wont to use

Positivity does not preclude
The realities of daily warfare
It simply carries with grace
Any face I choose wear

– Akanksha Gupta

Millstones and Milestones

Grandpa’s Winter Garden, 2022

Time has been harsh yet so very kind
Its memories well vintaged in my mind

There is a grace to every age
Lessons turning page after page

The stage set to throw wide the net
That seldom catches errant regret

Then a sweep of mindless mindfulness
Puts all off-beat crises to rest

Till wrinkles crease only the mind
At thirty, I barely pull off twenty five

There is nothing soft about me inside
It’s all sharp angles and hard lines

– Akanksha Gupta