Poems on Water
20.12.13
Anthropocene of the padma
In places where there is
not enough light
not enough food
where violence is
as habitual as sleep
& to be awake means to be
dead
the padma
grows: stems
from the souls of children
born to misery
experience
enlightenment
as they run through
muddy roads
smell
their scent:
pristine clean linen sheets
Rangoli on Water
My mom always told me to tie
my shoes
&
That if. I didn’t,
I would
Trip.
I did.
fell into a puddle of muddy water
(my) reflexes,
had failed.
(my) motionary sense,
Did not re act
quick enough
to
prevent
this body: mine
from tripping.
that same day i came home,
& saw
people
tripped.
Like me
into puddles of water,
they never got up.
Did their synapsis refuse to join
like my homologous legs
when i tripped?
they were face down
floating.
where was Brahma? high priests?
did Brahma create this,
ushering good things to come?
where was the design,
who was responsible
for this: rangoli,
who
would be there to sprinkle rice
to prevent these bodies from shifting,
this design
from becoming ruined?
made of blood,
made of bodies,
made of mud?
who?
i thought.
(t)he rangoli,
began to shift,
it was unlike
rangoli,
Lacked,
fresh flowers
leaves
& bright color
Who would pray for these
shifting in water,
who,
would draw their likeness
who,
would put life in them
again?
——————–
Amy Lukau is the daughter of African immigrants from Angola. She graduated from Arizona State University with a B.S. in Molecular Biosciences & Biotechnology and B.A. in Religious Studies. Amy is the Executive Director of Girls Education International, a not for profit organization based in Colorado that supports educational opportunities for underserved females in remote and underdeveloped regions of the world. She is currently an MFA candidate in the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University.
Fanzine’s series editor for Fall 2013 is Ella Longpre.