My grandmother
Who looks down on me from the heavens
Seemingly still in those halcyon days
When the kitchen dripped of oil-fragrances
And pappadams would be a crispy staple
She would fry me pappadams galore
As she glittered my eyes with taste lanterns
My cheeks would fill with samba rice
Bloated in to sheer satiety
And my pappadam face would gaze at her
Cheeks seemingly about to burst
In to a four inch smile – from ear to ear
Knowing what she bribed me with a pappadam
Was her own token of love….
Published by Curiosity-driven life (Dilantha Gunawardana)
Dr Dilantha Gunawardana graduated from the University of Melbourne, as a molecular biologist, and moonlights as a poet. He currently serves as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Botany, University of Sri Jayewardenepura. Dilantha lives in a chimeric universe of science and poetry. Dilantha’s poems have been accepted for publication /published in HeartWood Literary Magazine, Canary Literary Magazine, Boston Accent, Forage, Kitaab, Eastlit, American Journal of Poetry, Zingara Poetry Review, The Wagon and Ravens Perch, among others. Dilantha too has two anthologies of poetry, 'Kite Dreams' (2016) and 'Driftwood' (2017), both brought to the readership by Sarasavi Publishers, and is working on his third poetry collection (The Many Constellations of Home). Dilantha’s pet areas of teaching and research, include, Nitrogen Fixation, RNA biology, Phytoremediation, Agricultural Biology, and Bioethics & Biosafety.
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Kite Dreams 