11/29/2019 POETRY: AYESHA CHATTERJEEPLASTIC I ought to start with someone else's gain, step outside myself, put on the red and distant visor, be the other queen. Remember what is still to come. Forget. An ocean, say, with pebbles full of eyes – or what were once the outer skins of sight – how beautiful they are, intact and white against the deadened grey, intense cerise. Or maybe sand instead; the other side of memory. A hundred million minds meaningless now. A sparrow hops across snow. A dog barks. DIRECTION The wishbone though. Intact and delicate like a canoe slicing through the nothingness that should have been a heartbeat. Strength so often gets overlooked in the pink hour of dried blood. And so we miss the open mouth of determination, the way a foot is lifted not towards or away from but against. Ayesha Chatterjee is the author of two poetry collections, The Clarity of Distance, and Bottles and Bones. Her work has appeared in journals across the world and been translated into French and Slovene. Chatterjee is past president of the League of Canadian Poets and chair of the League’s Feminist Caucus. She is poetry advisor for Exile magazine.
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