(city of dreams)
It’s strange to live⁣
in a city where⁣
all dreams become possible⁣
it’s strange to breathe⁣
an air thick with wanting⁣
where even failure⁣
smells like another success

(maximum city)
It’s strange to live⁣
in a city that never⁣
finishes itself⁣
more arriving than leaving⁣
more building than built⁣
maximum in everything⁣
even in its exhaustion⁣
even in its hunger⁣
that mistakes itself for hope⁣

(bombay)
It’s strange to live⁣
in Bombay, that old name⁣
that still fits like a mother’s⁣
tongue around your childhood name⁣
where the Irani café holds its chai⁣
at the same temperature, it always did⁣
where the mill workers are gone⁣
but their ghosts still punch out at five⁣
where every new glass tower⁣
stands on the bones⁣
of something that was also that old name

But strangest of all⁣
to live in the city⁣
I call (Tandav)
where Shiva dances⁣
not in temples⁣
but in traffic⁣
not in silence⁣
but in the local train⁣
at eight in the morning⁣
where the destruction⁣
is also the construction
where the ambition
is also the city limits⁣
and every person⁣
crushed and blooming⁣
in its chaos⁣
is both the dancer⁣
and the dance

NaPoWriMo Day 21 – And here’s today’s prompt (optional, as always). In her poem, “Names and Nicknames,” Monika Kumar reminisces over various nicknames she has been given, the actual name her mother gave her, and the way both names and nicknames indicate a claim and an intimacy at once. In your poem for today, we challenge you to write your own poem in which you muse on your name and nicknames you’ve been given or, if you like, the name and nicknames for an animal, plant, or place. For example, I’ve always been amused at the fact that red trillium (a rather pretty wildflower that grows in the woods near my house) has several other common names, including the bizarre “stinking benjamin.” The plant grows very short and close to the ground, so I’ve never actually leaned over far enough to get a whiff and see how merited that sobriquet is!

Painting by Sudhir Patwardhan, Built and Broken