Adithi Raghavan
An Evening Meal with Mother's Paranoia
Mother curses each battered carcass,
mangled wires ripped from soggy drainpipes,
fermenting like radish on the oak bathroom tiles.
Child, she implores, look, I killed him.
This horned minotaur with dials for ears,
this government spy with crooked smile,
this now bloodied in vain.
Poor father mourns his radio,
tears chasing words into the sea.
His calloused knuckles knead
blueprints of graveyards
onto my spine while
brother drums boneless keys into the piano:
martyr song drenched in elegy for every
unhinged shingle weeping in mama’s mind,
an abyss awaiting.
I feel her eyes unpacking death in a maze,
the slow burn of fire lapping at her feet,
smoke smothering fleeing memories.
I gather the crackling shards
of meat into a pot of November,
season it with shavings of jaggery.
The sweetness of which
melts my reality.
mangled wires ripped from soggy drainpipes,
fermenting like radish on the oak bathroom tiles.
Child, she implores, look, I killed him.
This horned minotaur with dials for ears,
this government spy with crooked smile,
this now bloodied in vain.
Poor father mourns his radio,
tears chasing words into the sea.
His calloused knuckles knead
blueprints of graveyards
onto my spine while
brother drums boneless keys into the piano:
martyr song drenched in elegy for every
unhinged shingle weeping in mama’s mind,
an abyss awaiting.
I feel her eyes unpacking death in a maze,
the slow burn of fire lapping at her feet,
smoke smothering fleeing memories.
I gather the crackling shards
of meat into a pot of November,
season it with shavings of jaggery.
The sweetness of which
melts my reality.
Biography
Adithi Raghavan is a rising senior and Best of the Net nominee from Washington State whose poems have been published in online publications such as the Apprentice Writer, honey & lime, Rising Phoenix Review, and Blue Marble Review. Her writing has been recognized by the Poetry Matters foundation and the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Currently, she is working on her first chapbook. Adithi’s pronouns are she/her/hers. You can find her either ranting on Twitter or deleting tweets at the speed of light @AdithiRaghavan
