Losing the Country of my Childhood by Ronita Chattopadhyay (India, 44)

​I had heard of
families that were divided
when the borders were drawn.
Imaginary lines that
became terrifyingly real
and put brother and brother and sister
in separate lands.

​Another imaginary line
runs through our family now.
This one doesn’t show up
on any maps
but in beliefs and perceptions
and conversations and behaviours.
And even the
shared language of our childhood
is not enough.
There are now
barbed wires and guards
and no trespassing signs
where once love was.





Ronita Chattopadhyay finds refuge in words. She is lucky to make a living out of it while working with not for profit/non government organisations in India. Her poems have appeared in The Hooghly Review, Roi Fainéant Press and Howard University's Power: An Ode to BIPOC Excellence, Mystic Owl Magazine and Streetcake magazine. A mountain person at heart, she lives closer to the waters in West Bengal (India).