Poet :  Sherin Mary Zacharia 

Curling upon the grass like green

but not really grass

Mithramaya seeks a cat nap.

But it is an illusion!

A maya!

Rolling on the sand,

the golden sand

but not really sand

she seeks some warmth.

But again, an illusion

only maya!

Take me back to where I belong.

Mithramaya longs to run her claws

on the trees that have armour

of thick barks.

There, leaves murmur secrets endless

to a passing breeze.

Take me away from the

cacophony of the street side.

Close my ears to the

rattle of the railway side.

Turn my eyes away from

the sparkle of the fireworks,

blinking yellow lights

of the festivities loud.

Let Mithramaya and me

slide through the library window,

stick ourselves back

on the book

with a page, on which

you will find a mango tree weeping;

this late afternoon.

Let me sit under it

for quite some time,

my mind listens to the whispers from the

mind of the mango tree

unable to part with

the thoughts on the dark lonely cloud

that had touched it from high above.

Shadows grow into night

Mithramaya disappears into silence.

*Mithramaya – name of a cat My master’s voice

Grey Wolf

Poet : Sherin Mary Zacharia 

Grey wolf, now the fear of the town

was heard tearing flesh from many a bone

Men thought he had come from the other side,

of them who held weapons spired.

No one at day or night had seen him prowl

away was a mountain, where heard him

                                 baye and howl.

Grass grows, hides the marks left by paws

corpses bore scars of revenge scratched by claws.

Wolf, often dons an attire resembling theirs

them from the other side, someone shares

Nobody has seen with their eyes, him kill

or devour flesh from the blood spill.

Wind from the other side has the scent of a wolf, they thought

knowing they were wrong, they ruthlessly fought.

Grey wolf lay silent in the den inside minds, its darkness

filled with doubts, false fears fed by fakeness

Hidden, waiting for his next prey

In a world that makes trifle matters cause affray

 Born in 2002, in Kochi, Kerala. From a very young age, Sherin chose writing as a means of communication being a minimally speaking autistic individual. She finds her voice in writing English poetry. Sherin frequently contributes to English anthologies. She was awarded the first prize in Unseen Unspoken poetry contest by CommomWealth( 2017), The Autism Marvel award by the Social Justice ministry, Govt of India (2018). Her poem was recited at the online observation of World Autism Awareness Day by United Nations (2023). Her published book Moonlight (2018) is as a collection of her early poems. She is a co author of Disability Discourses (2021 )and Talking Fingers -1 (2022) which is a collage of thoughts, opinions and shared experiences written by non speaking Autistics. Sherin lives with her parents Sangeetha and Zacharia, her younger sibling Shreya and her pet cat Dussiya .