Gift Wrapping The Earth in Plastic

By Aayushi Bohra

My mother boasts an exceptional gift wrapping skill

(To be fair, everything about her is exceptional)

She twists and folds the shimmery paper

Following a complex procedure

And a seamlessly dressed present stands gleaming with pride

That’s another gift my mother has

To make everyone and everything feel beautiful

She would turn every ugly house we moved into

Into a beautiful home

She plants trees in every desolate place she can find

“Trees are important for a promising future”

She always says

But there are more ruins now

Than seeds in my mother’s treasury

And every sip of the cold coffee

From the fancy franchise

Threatens to choke everything that lives

Paper straws in a plastic wrap

What’s more tragically hilarious than that?

Maybe the outright deals to destroy our planet

Replacing the empty promises of tackling rising temperatures and sea levels

We go about our day as if we’re not marching towards our own fatal end

But my mother

My sweet , angelic, giving mother

Rests her head in her hands

And weeps at our collective failure

To give her something back

And hence , to end her misery

I wrap a plastic gift paper around her head

And choke her till her last breath

This sin like a stubborn stain on my soul

And all of ours

It will become my end someday too

By Aayushi Bohra