Ebbs and Flows 

I see them red, slimy 

I had to whack one, 

to make believe them 

who thought there were none. 

Little pieces, wiggling proof here, there, not even one! I was indeed seeing them, There was not even one! 

Serpents and Ebbs, 

Don’t happen overnight. You see them late, 

Deep, into the night. 

Pick them one by one 

Understand follow smother, If you shy away from the work Oh let be, don’t bother! 

A life with the Serpents,  No, they won’t let go 

Don’t get used to the Ebb For Tomorrow you may flow!!

Listen, Please! 

i didn’t want to be seen, 

head down, drooping shoulders. buried everything within 

daylight, hid under boulders. 

i made it easy for them to ignore, but when they refuted my existence, I screamed like never before 

I Posed with Rainbows in resistance! 

Now, I was with the rainbows! Aghast, They too wanted to slot me By my looks and locks, 

By my pointed shoes and printed socks. By the body language i wore, 

But mostly for who I adore! 

They made me sit-stand-squat, and showered wise advice, 

declared, They didn’t have a slot, Nor an excuse for my vice! 

i never asked to belong, 

abhorred a label, 

but if only they heard! 

deaf in ignorance, 

They happily buried, 

someone weird!!

The Potato’s Trade Off 

I want to exchange being silenced with being able to voice. I want to exchange my karwa chauth for a holiday with my husband. I want to exchange my guilt with faith in what I deserve. I want to exchange my fear with confidence 

I want to exchange my waxed eyebrows with the bushy real ones! 

I want to exchange feeling strapped with feeling free. I want to exchange my comfort with challenges 

I want to exchange dry hurt with loving foreplay 

I want to exchange those feeding nights with deep sleep. I want to exchange my rage with forgiveness 

I want to exchange reacting to masculine 

With being comfortable in my skin, just being me. 

Me, the aging plump opinionated potato 

Not Mysterious, just Real.

Vaidehi Sancheti

Vaidehi is a compulsive poet and a passionate writer. She believes in the power of stories in initiating change and healing. An FTII Alumnus, Vaidehi is an educator in the screenwriting space. A mother of two, living in Pune, she is grateful for what she has and loves to live in the now. She has always been the blahcksheep, bleating questions to anything rigid and too organized to accept diversity, anything that denies basic human dignity.