There are two ways to shell the earth
an egress from an eclipse
an intact lamp monolithic unwavering
what they call akhand in Sanskrit
a flame lit for nine months
the time it takes from embryo to birth
her rebirth however she who conquered space
what they called akash
was aided by splashdowns dolphins
a prurient deer’s perfume what they call kasturi
in Sanskrit
musk
a village worships pours milk for her return
a song takes different tongues when the left ear closes
to live in two realms is to stand on an iceberg
or the galaxy embracing depths speaking to flowers
you cannot appease the gods by bringing a horse to church
a small step or seven around fire or earth
is a maximalist yearning that defies explication
so ingress contaminants segregate constellations
it all begins in woman’s locker room
as it did for the well behaved one they call Sunita
in Sanskrit
verse and chapter titles
neat as they are stay false to the spirit of thoughts
instead let your tongue curl
touch your mouth’s roof palate
dripping immortal nectar what they call amrit
in Sanskrit
from infinity to eternity
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti:
One of the pleasures of writing poetry is to see the many journals all over the world that patronize and publish this art form. This poem was published in Tiger Moth Review, based in Singapore, where I used to live. It bills itself as “A journal of art + literature engaging with nature, culture, the environment & ecology” and is run by the excellent Esther Vincent Xueming, whose work is linked to nature and ecology. The benefit of writing this poem for this journal was that I start researching the tiger moth species. They are quite wonderful
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