by Varsha Saraiya-Shah
MY PRANA IS A BIRD-OF-PARADISE
On all fours I look like a tabletop. Lifting
into a cow curling up like a cat. How
my teacher models.
Go downward stretching like a dog, flip. I do
landing softly on the mat. She says,
think of the earth beneath observing
your every move.
She continues, rouse low like a cobra,
go eagle or just laze
into a grasshopper. Breathe,
become a tree firm and burden-free.
Let the crow in you come out. Hover
witnessing your world long as you can
from your body’s perch
arise like a Bird-of-paradise. I do.
I aim my warrior-arms like surya-rays bending
I hang like a crescent moon
and soon lay low pigeon-like upon landing.
Breathe into your breath, she reminds again
and again, embrace it fully.
One day it will part on its own
unbeknownst to the roles you’re playing,
labels you’re wearing. Neither Yin nor Yang
the girl in me loves to play Shiva’s Shakti, still
threading a needle with the knees.
My favourite is this body-bird
earth-bound, unwound shava-like,
yet full of prana.
Poet’s notes:
Shakti-Shiva are Hindu divine female-male pair. Similar to Yin & Yang in Taoism.
surya – sun, shava or sava – corpse, prana – (breath), a life-giving force.
A PLUM CAKE
We arrive late at Hotel Shillong
in Meghalaya. Literally, a house of rain.
Thousands of miles far above
my sea-level Texas villa.
Reception counter’s decked with a mini Asian Fir—
Christmas lights twinkle on its fragrant body.
We receive a warm plumcake welcome. Rum-laced
currants and dates dripping with jelly
Anglo-Indian style. Paired with a gold Darjeeling
brew in bone china breaks the ice of time zones.
It takes me back to Collin Street Bakery of
Corsicana, a tiny town famous for its fruitcake,
I visited years ago for business.
Brought home a big cake like a trophy for
children, elated with the treat learnt quickly
to huddle on my bed whenever
I got ready for a trip. Asking
hey mama, are you going to Corsicana again?
I savour it now with this sliver of homecoming.
A holiday in Himalayas, my childhood dream—
this princess nibbling her piece of cake
in a cozy winter palace.
Usha Akella, co-director of MATWAALA:
In its signature spirit of community welcoming established and upcoming poets, Matwaala 2018 took place in NYC. Matwaala’s Big Read was hosted by Asian American Writers’ Workshop (AAWW) on 26 September 2018. The participating poets this year were Usha Akella, Zilka Joseph, Ralph Nazareth, Varsha Saraiya-Shah, Ravi Shankar, Vivek Sharma and Pramila Venkateswaran. 2018’s Poet of Honour was Ralph Nazareth. There was also a reading with a feminist theme hosted by Bluestockings Bookstore in NYC.
Varsha Saraiya-Shah’s poetry chapbook VOICES was published by Finishing Line Press. Her poetry has featured in various journals/anthologies including Borderlands, Cha, Convergence, Right Hand Pointing, Texas Poetry Calendar, and elsewhere. Her work has been featured on local Public Radio and presented in a multi-language, multi-century classical/modern dance program, “Poetry in Motion” by Silambam, Houston. She serves on the Mutabilis Press Board and is a member of Matwaala, South Asian Poets’ Diaspora. She also writes poetry in her mother tongue, Gujarati.