Before the Hysterectomy
In my English literature class, I read out from “Othello.” I am all the characters, as well as the parentheses. I speak into my microphone, quietly. It is the last act, the final scene. There is pin-drop silence in the room, not even the rustle of the turning page as everyone now uses downloaded pdf, not textbooks. My students are engrossed in the killing of Desdemona. Their eyeballs are stuck to their tiny rectangular phone screens. Black and white, the scene flashes in their imagination.
the sharp creases
of my freshly laundered shirt
cut into my torpor
About the Author
Vidya Hariharan is an avid reader and traveller. In her spare time, she wrestles with crossword puzzles. Some of her poems, narratives, haibun and haiku can be found online in Glomag, Under the Basho, and Muse India’s Your Space, where her poems “Beauty” and “Open Heart Surgery” were selected as Editor’s Picks for July 2024 and September 2024, respectively.