Anoushka Kumar
Natural Selection For The Lonely Individual
Cento with lines from Hanif Abdurraqib, Solmaz Sharif, and Cameron Awkward-Rich
Cento with lines from Hanif Abdurraqib, Solmaz Sharif, and Cameron Awkward-Rich
I keep dry when the rain comes.
I have infinite skin. I know what it is to walk into the mouth of an unfamiliar morning and feel
everything.
There was an inlet I pulled over once to watch the sunset, which was still another hour or so
away, the light just low enough there to begin to change.
I have a dream in which I love the world. The flight of doves, the city of tents beneath the
underpass, the huddled mass, old women hawking roses, & children, all of them.
I should’ve stayed.
I suppose this is survival. There are no borders, only wind.
Maybe we both long for an era when there were less things to record death.
I will love those who no one else thinks to remember.
I have infinite skin. I know what it is to walk into the mouth of an unfamiliar morning and feel
everything.
There was an inlet I pulled over once to watch the sunset, which was still another hour or so
away, the light just low enough there to begin to change.
I have a dream in which I love the world. The flight of doves, the city of tents beneath the
underpass, the huddled mass, old women hawking roses, & children, all of them.
I should’ve stayed.
I suppose this is survival. There are no borders, only wind.
Maybe we both long for an era when there were less things to record death.
I will love those who no one else thinks to remember.
--
Anoushka Kumar (she/her) is a student and writer from India, with work forthcoming or published in Poetry Northwest, DIALOGIST, Rogue Agent Journal, and elsewhere. She likes wood-panelled flooring and Phoebe Bridgers.
Anoushka Kumar (she/her) is a student and writer from India, with work forthcoming or published in Poetry Northwest, DIALOGIST, Rogue Agent Journal, and elsewhere. She likes wood-panelled flooring and Phoebe Bridgers.