Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Calcutta, 1974 by Susan Isla Tepper


                             (In memory)


Outside the terminal

lining the streets congested

by heat and car fumes—

The desperate.

Blocking zig-zagging taxis

in sheer numbers,

the begging women pleading

to sell their babies—

Arms outstretched

like holding a bread loaf.


One black dot on my pale

wall signifies nothing.

A perfect round ink splotch

from the day you shook

the printer cartridge—

squeezing out the last bits.


The women in Calcutta

wore the same dot.

A perfectionist

you had wanted to repaint.

I told you to forget it.





Susan Isla Tepper is a twenty years published writer in all genres. Her current project is an Off-Broadway Play on the subject of art and life.

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