Bodies of glass
Your body is an amazing thing. I know, I forged it myself. Back in the time when you were fluid, and I was the one turning the slow awnings of brittle molten air-water, to make you; you with your lilting movement and golden crown of shine. And perhaps, I will move your body of glass into the sunlight, where I will fan you to keep you warm, and toss little sticks of grass into your body, fuse you in colour, and skynight swimming through your fingernails.
An amazing thing is your body, I sleep beside it, and you don’t rise or fall, but are a floating mass of dreams and breath; a shimmering-sleeping fairy-bird person. And I put my hand on you, and suddenly, I am a gondola moving down your slow river. I float and drift down, down your soft-water breasts, and I am thirsty. So, I put my mouth over one, and I search for the safety of solitude, to be stuck only on your nipple of rose-stained mirror. I find nothing but glass.
And I am your spider, slipping so slowly.
An amazing thing is your body, I sleep beside it, and you don’t rise or fall, but are a floating mass of dreams and breath; a shimmering-sleeping fairy-bird person. And I put my hand on you, and suddenly, I am a gondola moving down your slow river. I float and drift down, down your soft-water breasts, and I am thirsty. So, I put my mouth over one, and I search for the safety of solitude, to be stuck only on your nipple of rose-stained mirror. I find nothing but glass.
And I am your spider, slipping so slowly.
Spring 2026
Mekhala Chaubal is a Canadian lawyer and writer with roots in India. After growing up across the Middle East, she studied creative writing at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College (now Randolph College) in Virginia. Mekhala currently lives in Ontario with her family. Her most recent publications include an essay in the anthology "What we talk about when we talk about dumplings" (Coach House Books), and poetry in Mantis and The Ana. Find her on Instagram @mekhala.taylor.chaubal.
Art: Pamela Hobart Carter
While We Listen, 2025
An any-side-up, ink, pastel, and acrylic on (cheap) paper
While We Listen, 2025
An any-side-up, ink, pastel, and acrylic on (cheap) paper