Kandala Singh
the wilderness
after Louise Glück
The night sky offers our perch on the rock
discreet cover. Behind us, a solo aangan
flickers a bright white bulb, its lonely
light missing us by a sliver. By the silence
of the milky way & temple bells, I hear
your sharp breath in my ear. We are on the edge
of a ravine. Below, flimsy homes
teeter on their legs by the river.
Your breath carries
a moment I know, as if we lived
the same childhood, played
house together. In it, a father stands
on the threshold, about to leave
for the day’s work & stray. A mother
who has learnt to wait & pray
holds his gaze silently, plants
a red tilak on his forehead. A blessing
from the gods to protect her love.
Tonight, the temple bells are quiet. You moan
& bite my ear. Somewhere at the end
of the serpentine river, your wife
waits for you to bring her dinner.
I tear sharply into you, one
animal who recognizes another.
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Image by Vijay Richhiya from Pexels
Kandala Singh is a writer and researcher from New Delhi. She is a graduate of the MFA in Creative Writing (Poetry) at the University of Pittsburgh, where she was a Dietrich fellow. Her poems appear or are forthcoming in Plougshares, Rattle, Frontier Poetry, Southeast Review, and The Penguin Book of Poems on the Indian City, among other places. Her writing has won fellowships and support from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Sangam House International Writers' Residency, Community of Writers and Hudson Valley Writers Center. She reads poetry for Ploughshares. You can find her chasing clouds, flowers and poems at https://www.kandalasingh.com.
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