FANZINE

 

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.