Candela
Measure of luminous intensity
Popsicles of foam
& sand is warm butter On my mind:
all our ways of dying.
A bright canopy
like the breadth of sky
spreads its hands as if in welcome.
Thank you for sharing
your waking moments
with me. I never bargained
for so much closeness
with another human. Like mussel byssus,
we are hundreds of threads. As if
glued to wave-threatened rock.
Seaweed smell, its blunt
muttony stipe & kelp.
Like animals we plan a foray.
We're living keen
as black pelican beak
which understands water
by piercing it.
Its wings embrace
the inescapable periwinkle
Two kites
rapport in the sky,
saturated & vibrant as
lemon with salt.
& sand is warm butter On my mind:
all our ways of dying.
A bright canopy
like the breadth of sky
spreads its hands as if in welcome.
Thank you for sharing
your waking moments
with me. I never bargained
for so much closeness
with another human. Like mussel byssus,
we are hundreds of threads. As if
glued to wave-threatened rock.
Seaweed smell, its blunt
muttony stipe & kelp.
Like animals we plan a foray.
We're living keen
as black pelican beak
which understands water
by piercing it.
Its wings embrace
the inescapable periwinkle
Two kites
rapport in the sky,
saturated & vibrant as
lemon with salt.
Anindita Sengupta is the author of Walk Like Monsters (Paperwall, 2016) and City of Water (Sahitya Akademi, 2010). Her work has appeared in anthologies and journals such as Plume, 580 Split, One and Breakwater Review. She is Contributing Editor, Poetry, at Barren Magazine. She has received fellowships and awards from the Charles Wallace Trust India, the International Reporting Project, TFA India and Muse India. She currently lives in Los Angeles, California.
Art: Creative Commons