Smita Anand Sriwastav is an MBBS doctor with a passion for poetry and literature. She has always expressed her innermost thoughts and sentiments through poetry. Nature has been an influential force upon her writing. She has published 2 books of poetry and her work has appeared journals such as Rusty Nail, Pyrokinection, Jellyfish Whispers, eFiction India, and Contemporary Literary Review India. Smita has written all her life and intends to do so forever.

Renewing Autumn’s Breath
By Smita Anand Sriwastav

potpourri breath of fall,
is a bittersweet blend of memories’ sighs
those bronzed, gilded, withered
from the geometric contours
of a tree’s rustling imagination,

as a cinnamon October unwinds,
with its medley of earthly moments
that crepuscular quietude punctuated in
soft susurrus of tangerine leaves,
and mellowed mornings scented in fruit’s aromas,

somewhere some wildflower dares
to defy the word of Ceres,
while snowdrops blossom
earlier than e’er to herald the winter frost,

chartreuse dreams bud on barren twigs
of hope, breathing freshness into
the sinews of November, yet to emerge
from the chrysalis of tomorrow,
renewing the breath of autumn …