by Anam Tariq

We stroll out on a sunny Sunday
to the nearest park,
to burn the chill of January’s cold,
to blow our soap bubbles,
to welcome the new year.
Just as the party of iridescent bubbles
starts pouring in—
a spurt of a swarm of new possibilities,
mixed expressions of awe and youthful mirth,
a definition of exquisiteness in a child’s lexicon.
The flimsy soap-bordered water bubbles
giving off fluctuating colours—
violet, neon green, gold, blue—
we celebrate quietly
in the glimmer of our guests.
Knowing this beauty can burst any moment;
like a ruby rose or a nuptial relationship
some gorgeous things are sensitive to fiddling.
We tarry till they sparkle,
sporting warm gold coats
of winter sunlight on our backs.

Note – The event described in the poem is fictitious.

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Anam Tariq writes from India. She is the author of the poetry collection A Leaf upon a Book (Leadstart, 2022). Her poems nestle in The Punch Magazine, The Chakkar, Lucky Jefferson, Last Leaves, Free Verse Revolution, and elsewhere. Anam won the Verse of Silence Poetry Contest 2023, was a finalist in Lucky Jefferson’s Poetry and Prose Contest 2023, and was longlisted for Glass House Poetry Award 2024. Visit her at www.anamtariq.in or @anam.tariq_ (IG).