"Trope Thunder" by Sameen Shakya

Certain tropes are dead. Crumpled up like paper

And discarded, fallen off the table, gathering dust

In a corner of the room. For example, old poets

Would wax lyrical looking at some farmers

Throw their back as they dig into the Earth,

But all I see is hard work and sun-beaten faces.

There is no romance in that scene. It’s real.

But then other tropes are like those same pieces of paper

Discovered while cleaning the room, smoothed out,

And added back to the book, like when I was on a walk

The other day I heard a magpie chirp. It reminded me

Of an old nursery rhyme. I took my earphones out

And listened, really listened to the bird songs.

I felt like I was living a poem.

Sameen Shakya is a poet and writer based in Kathmandu, Nepal. His poems have been published in the following magazines: Havik, The Pittsburgher, WINK: Writers In The Know, Teach Writer, and W-Poesis.