Two Leaves and a Bud by Vaishnavi Pusapati

How come I know my zodiac sign,
but not my blood group?
I think, as I fill out the form,
Asking for my blood
group, my first job application.
And just like that I made it.
We were supposed to
pluck two leaves and a bud,
the ideal pluck, I say to myself
again and again,
two leaves and a bud,
on the tea plantation
and there were so many of us
until there weren’t any,
two leaves and a bud left.
And after that as
the seasonal work dried up
like a summer well,
just as my fingers
that smell like tea leaves,
learnt to pluck
two leaves and a bud
even without sight,
the pay cheque
comes and there weren’t
enough zeroes
and it wasn’t worth it
after all, not at all.
Ever since, every time
I was offered a cup
or I made tea, I think of
two leaves and a bud,
the diet zeros, and how
it wasn’t worth it
at all, not at all.

Vaishnavi Pusapati is a physician writer. Her work has appeared in Poetry for Mental Health, Poets for Science, Poetry Potion, among many others. She currently explores haikus and micro fiction.