Amulets of Resistance: Two Poems by Kashiana Singh
Photo: Karan Madhok
‘A canopy of desert flowers for / the darkest of his nights, marvel / of bitterroot bursting forth from / dead earth’
Scarred Silence
war echoes
another generation
extinguished
red summer
olives cured in salt
of tears
braiding
amulets of resistance
decomposed bodies
blurred choroid
the opaque presence
of burial sheets
invisible moons
a stained glass suncatcher
inhabits the window
simmering aromas
how many more meals
stay unfinished
deluge
uncounted refugees
on sunken boats
*
How to Watch a Train, Like a 6-Month-Old
When the train zips by and releases a wail
he jumps up and down as if to say that is a
journey I want to take, find home outside
home, stay safe inside windowed walls.
Draping itself into the horizon
chuk chuk chuk it goes, disordered
order as he repeats in truant voice
chuk chuk chuk kooooooooooo, kuuuuu
I too will drape him in my final
breaths, outstretched like a roof
of possibilities, travel with him
whenever, wherever he ventures
How my chest will be shingles
spread broad and wide, to be
a hemmed clearing in the forest
verdant glow within the pupil of
Eager eyes, its aperture opening
to an oasis, thrusting alive after
ashes rise, musings of bewildered
stars, light whistling through life
A canopy of desert flowers for
the darkest of his nights, marvel
of bitterroot bursting forth from
dead earth, praise yet kept alive
train tracks
directions to assemble
a lego set
***
Kashiana Singh serves as a managing editor for Poets Reading the News. Her full-length collection, Woman by the Door was released in 2022 with Apprentice House Press. She lives in North Carolina and carries her various geopolitical homes within her poetry. Her newest collection Witching Hour is due to be released in 2024 with Glass Lyre Press. You can find more information on her website. She is on Twitter: @Kashianasingh and Instagram: @kashianasingh.
