new from above/ground press: Ordinary Annals, by Monica Mody

Ordinary Annals
Monica Mody
$5

Trees still burn

at edge of consciousness,

gray. Ash

crinkles in gust.

Ash-sky marked us.

We are tangled with living

Earth. I keep trying

to find the rhythm of this poem.

Asphyxiated, in anguish,

it urgently wants to come out.

I need to breathe

but paper-thin parchment

somewhere within my lungs—

sky laid waste.

Mind wants to find ways

to make it better

but I am tired. I rest

into air.

Spirit of air,

ever-changing,

turning nothing into something

through simple action.

Brush us with your feathers

that we may yet return to forests

friends of fire.
                (“Ordinary Annals”)

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
July 2021
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

cover image: “Heera,” Oil and powdered stone on Canvas, 2020
by Palija Shrestha https://palijashrestha.com

Monica Mody's poetry collection Bright Parallel is forthcoming from Copper Coin Press. She is the author of Kala Pani (1913 Press). Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in anthologies including Extinction Violin: The Penguin Book of Modern Indian Poets, What is Time: An Anthology of New Indian Writing, Hibiscus: Poems that Heal and Empower, and &Now Awards 2: The Best Innovative Writing. Her poetry also appears in Poetry International, Indian Quarterly, Almost Island, Boston Review, and other lit magazines. She has been a recipient of the Sparks Prize (University of Notre Dame), the Zora Neale Hurston Award (Naropa), and the Toto Funds the Arts Award for Creative Writing.

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