Whose Hunt Was It? Poem by Indira Renganathan

To them in the jail cell
A challenge
"In the middle of dark night
Catch a mosquito alive
With bare hand..keep holding
It alive until checked
At once you will be released
Mind, no lights allowed"

For ever they would be in jail

Yesternight it came buzzing
On my left..then right..
Then my nose..then on my face
My hands swatted it not
But my ears, then nose
Then right on my face
Then suddenly my legs swatted
Lo, I covered
The whole of myself
Suffocating

No insect found..fugitive..
Buzzing..fugitive..buzzing
Like this tiny wingy foe
In any part of the world

And now, came again wingy foe
Buzzing over the blanket
I quietly flashed the torch
Through the blanket
I could see it
Quietly my hand out to trap
Held my breath..almost caught
But lo, how it fled away

I got up impatient
Sleeplessly sleepy
For the next day

Unable to win
Like them in the jail-