Sujatha Menon's poem "Honey Moon"

 

“I am a British Indian poet, musician and artist based in the UK and editor of Crowstep Journal. My poems have been commissioned by arts organisations as well as being published in print, broadcast on radio and reimagined by artists in various mediums. My first poetry collection, The Glass Puddle, was published by last year. The written and spoken word has emerged from song-writing and performing with the band Satsangi for 20 years. We have been broadcast on radio (BBC) and TV (MTV) featured in magazines such as Rolling Stone and have travelled internationally to share our music.”

Honey Moon

Sticky, orange and boiled

beneath a hole in the Sweet Walla’s shack—

shack-attack of asthma glacé,

and the road outside wheezes home

to the knell of cattle bells.

This unstitched edge is where I left you

and everything about your name

now shy as a distant cousin

with similar eyes

but not the mouth, nose or gaze.

How was I to know 

about this undoing, 

like a teaspoon of honey

that takes months to make

but just seconds to steal

and so will no longer heal

this infected breath

            rough-cut sigh

                        broken tongue.

                            

With hands churned raw

from milking lost maps,

I lift my face to your shining

and kiss it goodnight.

© 2022 Sujatha Menon