SIVAKAMI VELLIANGIRI

The Stare

PUBLISHED IN FOLIO 2024: VOL. 39.

I always thought of a cold storage
in space where souls could hibernate 
take their own re-birthing time
to find another suitable body.

But in very rare cases it returns immediately
to be born in the same place to fulfil
some leftover wishes.

It is my niece, her eyes
she stares at me like my mother.

Sivakami Velliangiri has been included among the women poets in the History of Indian Writing in English (1980). Her online chapbook, In My Midriff, was published by Lily Literary Review. How We Measured Time is her debut poetry book. Her poems appear in The Penguin Book of Indian Poets April 2022 edited by Jeet Thayil.