i. morning

marred by an eczema of excised beginnings

of abridged dreams / toothbrush bristles

whistle the teeth, toothpaste sizzle mints

the breath / & the mouth holies at the touch

of chai like a beach cave at low tide

ii. past

at the corner stall, or the college canteen

coins counted / whats gathered / plucked

a parippu vada, vazhakka bhajji, bread pakora

hand of god an egg bonda / returned holding

the cups of chai / hot hot hot here you go / say

shit, the next class has begun but stay anyway

because this is the end of the world / let the

big bangs wait for us to finish what we started

iii. evening

alone now, alone always / beach craves at

high tide / but a rusk baptized in chai is true

communion / under the heavenly light of LED

lamp & neon candles / where the chai is not

a symbol of anything beyond itself / where

the rusk is a body of its own wheat origins

iv. future

we will get through this shit / together

we will realize togethering is better

than othering / melt walls with the arrival

of delayed touch at the terminals abacussed

on our bodies / the sky will be chaismoke &

we will experience the expected turbulence / we

will hope we enjoyed our flight / thank us for

choosing us / we hope we fly with us / again

~Ajay
4/12/2020