Untitled (2009)
The lace of life shimmers
through me
I will not wound it
It shall be strengthed
as will I
The Waiting Sister (2008)
Blood-bound in a tract,
sister in name, enemy in fact.
Busy life in an empty space
gaunt eyes in a plump face
watching for the other’s demise
to get a portion of decent size.
All is foreign, but the prize.
…(2008)
Angry fight clouds sleep.
Clear bodies forgive at night
wake us, intertwined.
Aging (2006)
Stuck solid in rock of clock
Hemmed by invested self
Grey hair worn with shame
died harshly blackest black
Body muscles flaccid from rest
Mind muscles tight with worry
Less amazing flutters in stomach
Hardier stomach for everything
Less easily moved, moving frenzied
A hamster with nothing but its wheel.
Homecoming (2001)
Looking down from descending aircraft
Stomach tight, breath short,
anticipation rising in my throat
I look down on the miniature roads
as yet indistinguishable from this great height
To the eye like any other city
But to me, my mind — home
Landing smooth, but barely noticed,
Eyes, mouth, fingers eager to meet
Things familiar, once loved
Now more missed than loved
I recognize the airport, the smell, the sound
This is the India I remembered, just the same
Why did everyone tell me it would be different?
It’s not dirtier, or more crowded, or hotter
My whole world in a little test tube
They kept it for me, frozen as it was
Every particle of dust, every errant paper
For the day I should return to return its love
Walk out into the world I came from
I don’t feel alien or unbelonged
What did they mean when they said I would?
Did they think I had not been frozen too?
I froze myself out of my love for you,
For the day I should come back to start my life again.
Oil Bath (2001)
Dust in my hair, gratefully settled
Smoke in my skin from a burping car
These I anoint with hot oil and soak
in the long sigh of the oil bath
Sometimes it’s worth getting dirty
To get clean again.