Watching Sunrise over Mountains

April 4, 2016

Watching Sunrise over Mountains

two words eliding together

suryode

clouds tearing at seams, re-feathering for day

crows flapping wings

same word for ship and plane

jahaj

what does this say

world catching between peaks

kal

yesterday / tomorrow

sun framing itself, emerging at top: crowning

each stroke missed, making

jheel

lake holding glass to sky, symmetrical and angular

single crack for pedal boat

god or mountain

parvat

droplet-shaped face with no hair

undefining

same word for he, she, they

waha

beating from cluster of cells

child that makes wo/man

sun, never-perfect circle

waha

shortened to ‘wo’, looser version of ‘who’

when do they form

they, spreading halo wings, light falling coloured

they, shining yellow before blue

crows flapping wings against hazy hue of risen sky

who are we to decide

poetry

Hindi, NaPoWriMo, nationalpoetrymonth, poetry

Posted by:

ankitawrites

About Ankita

Ankita Saxena is the author of Mother | Line, which released in April 2023, with Verve Poetry Press. She read English Literature at Jesus College, Oxford (2014-2017), where she was Head of Events at Oxford University Poetry Society, and President of the Turl Street Arts Festival. She has been commended in the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award three times. She is a Barbican Young Poet alumnus, part of the Octavia Poetry Collective, and one half of the ORIGINS Poetry Duo. Her poetry is published in Wasafiri, Modern Poetry in Translation and Bath Magg. She has performed widely across the UK, including live at Hammersmith Appollo, with The Guilty Feminist.

By day, she works at Social Finance, a not-for-profit social enterprise, helping to tackle complex and enduring issues in society and create lasting and widespread change.

Ankita Saxena