Songs of Anisha
“At the Dinner Table,”
by Chika Unigwe
You passed me the salt
It was to your right, I think
And what was it you asked for?
“Honey, could you pass me the curry?”
I didn’t even know you had developed a taste for it
For whom? I wonder
There are lots of things
I don’t know anymore, I guess
We have reached the end
“I will love you forever”
It used to ring true but we don’t even say that
Not to lie, I know
In the middle
Is a bowl of carrots
And we reach for it
Together, maybe there is a chance.
“Counting Small-Boned Bodies,”
by Robert Bly
Let's count the bodies over again.
If we could only make the bodies smaller
The size of skulls
We could make a whole plain white with skulls in the moonlight!
If we could only make the bodies smaller
Maybe we could get
A whole year's kill in front of us on a desk!
If we could only make the bodies smaller
We could fit
A body into a finger-ring for a keepsake forever.
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