By Ankit Raj Ojha
Busy old fool, unruly Sun,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windows, and through curtains call on us?
– John Donne, The Sun Rising
Ten minutes past runtime,
I’m still teaching class.
Restless students invoke
temporal obligations
amid a hushed hullabaloo
of discontent.
Earnest assurances
are spent in vain;
proud winter Sun
douses my authority,
seducing the subjects
with warmer prospects.
My might is metaphorical,
I remind myself,
dishing out one:
“Would your host have you leave
souvenirs on your platter
only to serve it stale the next time?”
Applause.
(Take that, Sun!)
Ankit Raj Ojha is a poet, assistant professor of English, former software engineer and former rock band frontman from Chapra, Bihar, India. He has a PhD from IIT Roorkee, works with the Department of Higher Education, Haryana, is editor at The Hooghly Review, and guest-edits Essence and Critique: Journal of Literature and Drama Studies. Ankit’s creative and academic writing is published/forthcoming in eleven countries, including venues such as Poetry Wales, Routledge, Johns Hopkins University Press, Indian Literature (Sahitya Akademi), Outlook India, Stanchion, San Antonio Review, The Bayou Review, The Broadkill Review, Roi Fainéant Press, and Dreich among others. He is the author of Pinpricks (Hawakal, 2022). Twitter: @ankit_raj01 || Instagram: @ankitrajojha1 || Website: https://linktr.ee/rajankit
