My Jasmine Tea
I took a moment to force my eyes into your sockets.
I left the room, the desk, the extolling of the brain,
To catch you as you ran across the northeastern states
Back to the brick and siding that hides your innocence
From the forces of the world that are pushing you to earn.
You
left your corneas on the blue pillow where we slept,
Rather, you slept, while I read anticreationist
Texts and learned the secrets of the attractive forces
That hold us together on this pile of organic
Waste. As your pupils I see constant rain and Van Gogh lights.
I see flowers, and you crawl inside them to pollinate
With me inside you, where I can feel every motion
The stalk makes in the breeze of sunlight or thunderstorm,
We can’t see to tell which is making the movement but
I can feel it in the loose parts of my flesh, which you loved.
You pluck me out of your bones, pull out my sticky silk
Traces from the places where they cling to the hair on
Your too soft chest, and eyebrows. On your breath, I glide back
To the room, the desk, and the book I left, but my jasmine
Tea has steeped too long, has grown too bitter for me to drink.
Bio:
Roheeni Saxena
is a young poet and writer who was born and raised in Washington,
D.C. She received her first formal training as a poet at the Iowa
Young Writer’s Workshop and earned her BA from Wellesley College.
She is currently living in New York City, where she is pursing a
Masters degree at Columbia University. To learn more about her
please visit her website (www.roheenisaxena.com)
or follow her personal blog (www.rosax.wordpress.com).