Poem

Things I Would Tell You If You Hadn’t Gone Away

For my weekly horoscope, the tarot reader pulled out a Four of Wands card. It means that I have lost my religion. If you add half a teaspoon of jaggery sugar in a cup of black coffee, it becomes easier to swallow on a wounded tongue. There are other songs in the world but none of them remind me of those afternoons when you would play music at the lowest volume considering the neighbours and the sleeping cat. The succulent on my desk has died. I have washed its roots with neem oil and re-planted it in new soil. Is this a good metaphor? It is possible to lose your soul on a holiday morning and realise it when you sit down to file your taxes. My friend is in love with his ex-girlfriend. Thankfully this time she knows it before I do. Screen-reading affects a child’s comprehension and empathy. We are a whole generation of screen readers. Is that why lovers fight over text? Can we say a prayer for the girl in my building who was run over by a car on the highway? She’s fighting for her life.* I imagine true-love to be a vehicle-free street where a glass-blower twists flamingoes out of shape. Every day a new flamingo. Every day the possibilities of what shape our days would take if we only could breathe deeply.

*This is a real incident. Please say a prayer.