Blackout--By Shloka Shankar--India

Blackout

The engine gently chugs past
as it marks the countryside
with its puffs

a panoramic view
unfolds before me,
like scenes from a flip book;

slowly, then all at once
we’re plunged into darkness...

hellish screams
from infants set my hairs on end
as I sink deeper into my seat --

waiting for the light at the
end of the tunnel

not so much from fear,
but for that light-footed
fairy called Hope.

Shloka Shankar resides in India, and works as a freelance writer. A contributing poet in over half a dozen anthologies such as The Dance of the Peacock, Traversal of Lines, Family Matters, Emanations IV, and Rainbow Hues, among others, Shloka has also seen her poems published in journals like Ekphrasis, Writers Asylum, The Literary Yard, Urban Confustions, Wordweavers, Verse Wrights, Miracle-ezine, and Cafe Dissensus.