A father’s shrāddha instructions: A consolation

A father’s shrāddha instructions: A consolation

NOW, you should prepare by obtaining the following:  I.  For giving to a priest: 1 pound rice, ½ pound toor dal, ½ cup red chilies, ¼ cup coriander seeds …

Read Article →
Bright Stain

Gutsy and Revelatory: Francesca Bell’s Bright Stain

As the title suggests, Francesca Bell’s debut collection of poetry, Bright Stain (Red Hen Press, 2019) is rife with complexity and nuance. A stain might…

Read Article →
Home like Red, White, Brown

Home like Red, White, Brown

scab country, this;                             coagulatedfrom the fall, the bleed; picked                                                 apart, flickedso new underneath it won’t match                                                     can’t; scarlike bleach on jeans, like knuckle clean                                                            through glassbruise can yellow over, recolor;…

Read Article →
Gopi

Gopi

I recited Tagore to you at bedtime.               Tales of flower buds and fishermen,               Boat crossings on an ocean of milk.  [You settle in your sleep.] Your earrings…

Read Article →
Grandfather

Grandfather

I am now older than you when your body was lostbetween solid and liquid as death courted brother and foe what thoughts rose as mountains…

Read Article →
Salami

Salami

The summer after 6th grade, my lizard died. My parents had never owned reptiles before and the vet we took our dog to wouldn’t cremate…

Read Article →
Sundown

Sundown

“Hey! Where’d that woman put my fan?” Mimi yelled. “That woman—she took it. I know she did. She’s always taking my stuff.” Ruth held her…

Read Article →
Nightstand

Nightstand

These daysI only read worksfrom poetsI’m intimate withnot the cigaretteafterwards kindbut morein a crowdedroom kindwhen you readthat pieceabout smokinga cigaretteafterwardslips pursedaround a narrowfilter inhalingnicotineyour bodyabsorbing…

Read Article →
The Window Faces East

The Window Faces East

And that’s whyI never see Don Ramon,loaded with carrots and lettuces, walking the roadon the west sideof my little home. Have you ever thoughtof whomyou’d…

Read Article →
Echo Cardiogram

Echo Cardiogram

I lay on my left side, the technician’s wrist on my breast, wand pushing into my skin.He’s looking at my heart on the screen, into…

Read Article →
The Catholic

The Catholic

Before the flood,New Orleans gave usCrawfish plucked from spicy broth that blistered Our lips pressed silent during the awkward family dinner;Sinking gravestones that made my mother…

Read Article →
Scavenging

Scavenging

A dozen donuts popped and sizzled in the deep fryer. As they floated into one another, Cosmo took out a pink box from under the…

Read Article →
The Grief Collection

The Grief Collection

Do not grieve. Anything you lose comes around in another form. -Rumi 1. Why I still see you in the time since then, I can’t…

Read Article →
The Lesser King

The Lesser King

It’s just an unknown web journal that probably no one reads, but something I wrote has been published. I’m thrilled. You would be, too. I…

Read Article →
Trespassing

Trespassing

Their mother knocked on the door and leaned inside quick enough to catch Susan swaying to “The Wallflower” playing on her transistor radio. Elyse, lying…

Read Article →