Your City

your city is a shrine to the deities i drowned in the bathtub, when maa went to the nearby temples, seeking solace in sandalwood paste, even when it failed to hide the blood streaking her everywhere, and she dared not cross the threshold which screamed that she was unholy, for the river which flowed inside her womb was where heroes drowned in the treacherous currents out of which they are born. . your city is a suicide note to tragedy; departed souls come back to tell you that seeking love in your city is treason against the pagan goddess who feeds on your misery and seethes in anger as you find that you can create flames as you run serrated wisps of grass along your tongue, lips, eyelids. you were a Phoenix in my unwritten ballads, but you chose to make the ash your home forever. . your city sits under my eyelids like a nightmare which refuses to leave, a frightening dream scared of the reality which threatens to consume it. your city runs away from me, forgetting that i am the immigrant it seeks to get rid of, it is a refugee hiding in my bedsheets, spilling out its corrupt secrets, making room for bullet holes in its chest pocket. . //your city has no tomorrow and it refuses to dwell in the past/