ISSN: 1941-4137
POETRY THAT ENACTS THE ARTISTIC AND CREATIVE PURITY OF GLASS
POETRY THAT ENACTS THE ARTISTIC AND CREATIVE PURITY OF GLASS
Uma Menon is a fifteen-year-old student and writer from Winter Park, Florida. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in the Huffington Post, The Rumpus, Mikrokosmos Journal, and Ruminate Magazine, among others. She received the 2019 Lee Bennett Hopkins Award from the Florida State Poets Association and was named 2019 Editor's Pick Poet by Brain Mill Press. Uma is also a social justice activist and a dedicated vegetarian.
out
it is night now & the lights are nothing but songs
in the wind: there but not here
so we say our prayers to a room we believe but
do not see in this outage
i trace the handle of an oil lamp with my finger
& pinch the grease along my thumb imagining
a genie emerging from the mouth of the tired lamp
spitting another body & swallowing me instead
i rub my hair between my fingers to implant this oil
& turn away this kindling
i rub a genie between my teeth as a wish & i wave a finger
through this air as a goodbye to the lightless
"out" was inspired by a trip to my family's hometown, Thrissur, in the summer of 2018. During the heavy monsoon season, power outages are not uncommon in Thrissur, and they occurred a few times during my trip. And while a power outage may have made me feel uneasy and anxious in my hometown in Florida, in Thrissur, it gave me a sense of comfort and liberation from the constant reliance on electricity to power our lives. Darkness not only allows us to appreciate light, but it also tests the trust we have for our surroundings and ourselves. Particularly, I was enamored by the warmth and light of a simple oil lamp, which evoked several images that are expressed in this poem.
Glass: A Journal of Poetry is published monthly by Glass Poetry Press.
All contents © the author.
All contents © the author.
