Elephants sway in my mother's e nglish
Pleased to meeting you she says
the multiple suffixes of her mother tongue
affix themselves to her meter: Okay-na
In Malayalam,vowels sit like an egg
On tongue Ant to aardvark
Her voice vies against drunkit English
hums with the rhythm of a Mridanangame
In English, the word Malayalam
reads the same from left to right as right to left-a mirror of contentment
If only other words were so settled.
My mother worries about the pale cluster's
on her mammogram
Breast Cancer is very popular now
Common,I say,not popular
Our other tongue is this silence
A hush,
a blank face
pressed against the glass