In Parentheses, a Poem by O.P. Jha

I asked a lonely grape-vine,

“Are you bearing sweet fruits

even now, in war time?”

It fell silent but I found its silence

within many parentheses - ((silence))

Oh! I’m unable to decipher

the connotation of sweetness in silence.

In a tough time

silence resides within parentheses

& sweetness in abyss.

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The literary works of O.P. Jha have appeared in more than one hundred journals including Rigorous, Mantis, Punt Volat,  Discretionary Love, In Parentheses, Shot Glass, Lothlorien Poetry, The Cry Lounge, The Odessa Collective, Backchannels, Homer’s Odyssey, The Broken Teacup, Poetry Pacific, By the Beach, miniMag, Iceblink, Infinite Scroll, The Rome Review, Tiger Leaping Review, Wildscape Literary, Pineberry Literary, Valiant Scribe, Kelp, pulplit Mag, Gabby &Min’s , Panorama , Quibble Quarterly, Stone of Madness, Midwest Zen, Hoot, Balestra, Soul Poetry, The Haiku Shack Magazine etc. His poems appeared in anthologies "We were Seeds" and "We are Resilient". He holds a Ph.D. in "Translation Studies". X: @OPJha17