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Spring 2004 • Vol. XXVI No. 2 • Poetry |

Raw Silk

By Meena Alexander

I.

Open the door or I’ll faint hearing amma’s voice—
Where is the silk from your grandmother’s sari?

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Meena Alexander
Meena Alexander has two new books forthcoming in 2018. Her volume of poems Atmospheric Embroidery (TriQuarterly Books/Northwestern U Press) and the anthology she edited Name Me a Word: Indian Writers Reflect in Writing (Yale U Press). She is Distinguished Professor of English at Hunter College and the Graduate Center CUNY. www.meenaalexander.com

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Cobblestones & Heels

By Meena Alexander

   By Herod's gate, In a twelfth-century courtyard,    A woman in sweatpants, Nails flashing crimson.    By her, a parrot in a cage. —Tu tu tu tu hutu tu—the parrot cries.    By […]

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Torn Grass

By Meena Alexander

Childhood is a hot country, Amma lives there.The sky has turned the color of torn grass.Remember the calf dragged away to Chenganacheri Fair?Tiny tottering thing, snout wet with gooseberry juice. […]

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