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Feasting, Fasting

Feasting, Fasting

Shikha Malaviya

The clock strikes seven
and like Pavlov’s dog
we run into the kitchen
the pressure cooker hissing
till we push down its whistle
dinner, the thought of it
forms a ball of saliva
dancing on the center
of our tongues

And as I cap the bubbling rice
your arm crushes mine
reaching over
to taste the potatoes
dressed bright yellow
like my childhood raincoat

I slap your hand
then bring it to my lips
tasting the salt
a hint of paprika
my heart, our hearth
both warm
as your turmeric-stained fingers
slide over breast
then hip

Sliced tomatoes
arranged in circles
of longing
bear silent witness
along empty white
plates
our reflections in
tablespoons
resting on their backs
as rice water boils over
as the pot’s steel blackens
as fingers leave
yellow smudges
of desire
and we gasp
at the smell of
burning

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Shikha Malaviya is founder and director of The (Great) Indian Poetry Project, an ongoing initiative to document, preserve, and promote the legacy of modern Indian poetry.  Her work has been featured in several U.S. and Indian literary journals and anthologies. She founded Monsoon Magazine, one of the first online South Asian literary magazines. Her book of poems is Geography of Tongues.

Shikha Malaviya