Three Exchanges and a Resolution

Written by Willow, one of our poetry writers, and edited by Udita, one of our editors!

After ‘natasha*’

natasha? You must believe in miracles.

In the capability of Papa’s rifle

to soothe over Kali’s cryptic wailing,

rouse erstwhile soldiers,

dye flags blue like lakewater

natasha, I promised you gold,

& see how I pan now, alongside crusted ghosts

But only saffron silk is in stock.

Would you trade two heads

for a poppy flower?

natasha. Dance atop the bloodstained clouds,

& I will make sure

that stars become opium addicts,

that ether shrinks into earth,

wrinkles around the gardens,

instead of you,

your misery imprinted into clay

Remember how the lake laughed,

bare-breasted, in trills,

when your daughter attempted the same

lending the mud, eyes

& even you, too, albeit in reluctance

Because to be joyous is to bless

the butchers who weighed flesh in gold,

in what memorabilia can be pillaged

from inside abysses, once light

& she has left now,

guided by the butterfly from the pollution,

on the road to a poor man’s Eden &

you are left with stones

for a mother’s mouth,

the lycoris that creeps between floorboards

Thus, in sightlessness,

let the Red Sea embrace breath. natasha.

*’natasha’ is the name of the 2022 Singapore Biennale. From the Singapore Biennale 2022

website: ‘Going to Natasha is to embrace the possibility of intimacy and spontaneity afforded by such recognition, as well as to reflect on the transformative potential within life and its relations— from self to others, from human to non-human, from living to non-living, and vice versa, and beyond.

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This piece was written by one of our poetry columnists, Willow. Reach them at @oldmanheart, on Instagram!

This piece was edited by one of our editors, Udita. Reach them at @wilde_woolf on Instagram.

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