Instructions to study a leaf
Select healthy, mature leaves. Collect them in a dry, plastic bag.
Look around from where your feet
touch the ground. Do not move them
from their chosen graves.
Observe the sample for its morphological features.
Bend down and say hello. Be the first
to greet them on a busy day.
Be casual, like they’re your grandma.
After all, All is leaf.
And, oh yes, it’s definitely a she
relentlessly showing up for the critters to feed.
Ask if it hurts — the skeletal tattoo left by a leafcutter
or the yellowing by the ear,
or does it rather feel like a haircut
or a silvering strand?
Ask the younger ones how they’re coping.
Was it a storm, or a bunch of frivolous children?
Assure them it’s perfectly fine to be raging,
or even jealous
of the unfolding flush.
Finally, to document,
take photos or draw them in your notebook.
But do not bother to insult them
asking for a name.
The gentle indifference of a name.
And before you leave, be a good samaritan
and thank them for their service,
for your breath.
Rashmimala, In search of the Missing, Natural pigment with casein, mixed media on mulberry silk mounted on cloth, 32 x 20 inches, 2025
In search of the missing
It was always a coy, red Jaba that taught us how the plants did it before they came to humans. In class, when they handed us the mauled pieces, it was all there—petal, sepal, stamen, pistil. But dead. Dead and defeated. Just like its image in the hot-pressed textbook. Nothing like the ones in my backyard who knew exactly who they were. And I know it’s for a reason that when these flowers chafe against the grain, it bruises the paper a dark, mountain blue. Aeons later, when they unfolded the beating blob of flesh that held them together and whorled it back, there it was. A plump, red Jaba guffawing at their chest-thumping bluster. Blood-red and throbbing tongues bound by a singular desire. To crown Her cunt every year, when the red river is in spate.
Note: The unfolding of the heart is a nod to the findings of Dr.Francisco Torrent-Guasp that proves that the heart is a single, continuous, muscular band
Rashmimala, The Ruderals as Companions, (Left to Right) 1. Ashwagandha, Withania somnifera, Natural pigment with casein, mixed media on mul cotton mounted on cloth, 2. Sarsu, Brassica juncea, Natural pigment with casein, mixed media on mulberry silk mounted on cloth, 32 x 20 inches(each), 2025) 3. Gu-bon or Gu-phul, Lantana camara, Natural pigment with casein, mixed media on mulberry silk mounted on cloth
Ruderals as companions : an ode
They settle for piecemeal
sky and splintered sunshine,
asphalt and cement,
and throw out shrapnels
of wonder.
They take your piss
and poop and settle
for being thankless companions.
They are okay to settle for oblivion.
Because they know too well
to rewild their way in
with the wet gunk
of chlorophyll.
I see you —
Ashwagandha, Gu-phul, Sarsu…
I see you all.