In Flight | Sri Lal

In Flight

Into your fiery mouth,
I rush. I am ash.

I am beyond myself,
no longer a daughter

cast out,
good for nothing

but scullery or madhouse.
I am a mottled moth

diving into your fire
to be consumed.

No, I am wine.
I am honey along

the razor’s edge.
I am your sweet tongue,

the rising serpent kite.
I am the cosmic womb,

inner sanctum of seed.
I am alive in brahmin

and dalit alike.
No longer girl,

not man or bird in flight.
I am the ocean’s song

alive in primordial light,
vermillion dawn

birthed from an endless
jeweled night.

Sri Lal is the author of Atma Bodha (O Books, 2012), a collection of Indian hymns in English translation. Her writings have also appeared in Fiction International, the New York Quarterly, Epiphany, Daedalus, Bombay Review, Indian Quarterly, and others. She teaches literature and creative writing in the English Department at CUNY’s Borough of Manhattan Community College.