becoming home

I was once the airport type
trolley suitcase, latte chai
staring at the painted hollow faces
smile
thinking I could fly
though I never saw what was
but clouds
through double panes of glass
convinced me I was higher
than the places I thought I’d go
if I ever died, when I believed
when I was a child.
From my later travels
extensive overland
I learned there are no heavens
but what the earth has
in water buffalo alleyways
where love and history sometimes
graze and twitching hearts
flick the flies away.
I wait today on a yellowed platform
jhola bag, yellowed sign
in three languages
where trains stop sometimes
and gauge, sometimes broadly
the best way to go home,
which stops are meant to last forever
which stops are mine.

– Roshan Nair

Roshan Nair is putting together a collection of poetry inspired by Indicorps experiences.  In Roshan’s words, “The idea is to use poetry to tell our stories through scenes, images and emotions, like a movie, but better.”

Roshan would like to encourage those inspired by the Indicorps experience to submit poems to roshanair@gmail.com by February 7, 2010.
If you find yourself saying, “great idea, but I have never written poetry, and do not know how,” Roshan has the following tips:

-Write down all the fragments that come together when you think about your Indicorps experience (or any experience, really) — maybe where you lived, your community or a particular experience during the year.

-Rereading your journal or columns may help jog your memory. See if you can say those same things in fewer words, or in words that flow better when spoken together. Then repeat, try the whole editing thing over again.

- Eventually, you may decide you want it to look or sound a certain way, and that’s what poetic license is, so go ahead. Then send it in. We’re waiting.