Family of Helmets
Four helmets
stacked on a two-wheeler.
Sometimes a family portrait,
other times like ramparts of a fortress.
All bumping into each other,
passing on messages,
resentments,
a Morse code of moods.
A constant knocking,
like a ticking clock
or like marbles let loose.
Each helmet,
a sealed orb,
an echo chamber.
One hums the day’s chores
that melt into the lining.
Another keeps within
all that needs to be remembered,
and all that needs to be forgotten.
One helmet sings lullabies.
And one is patched with tape
to keep fantasies from leaking.
At night
when there are no heads inside,
the helmets remember
the worries, the songs, the silence, the dreams.
The family misplaces themselves,
a little each day.
But the helmets
remember for them.
In the morning
their soft heads
wait to be stacked,
wait for the ignition,
wait for their metal skin
to find again
what’s left inside.
stacked on a two-wheeler.
Sometimes a family portrait,
other times like ramparts of a fortress.
All bumping into each other,
passing on messages,
resentments,
a Morse code of moods.
A constant knocking,
like a ticking clock
or like marbles let loose.
Each helmet,
a sealed orb,
an echo chamber.
One hums the day’s chores
that melt into the lining.
Another keeps within
all that needs to be remembered,
and all that needs to be forgotten.
One helmet sings lullabies.
And one is patched with tape
to keep fantasies from leaking.
At night
when there are no heads inside,
the helmets remember
the worries, the songs, the silence, the dreams.
The family misplaces themselves,
a little each day.
But the helmets
remember for them.
In the morning
their soft heads
wait to be stacked,
wait for the ignition,
wait for their metal skin
to find again
what’s left inside.
Spring 2026
Shikha Valsalan grew up in Dubai and India and currently lives in Atlanta. Her work has appeared in The Hooghly Review, The Bangalore Review, Usawa Literary Review, Twin Bird Review, Roi Fainéant Press, and The Disappointed Housewife.
Art: Pamela Hobart Carter
While We Listen, 2025
An any-side-up, ink, pastel, and acrylic on (cheap) paper
While We Listen, 2025
An any-side-up, ink, pastel, and acrylic on (cheap) paper