SEA SALT

These shores - my marrow, tawny clay,

breeze infused with notes of myrrh. Here,

gilded blossoms of the arfaj thrive

and air thrums with the hymns of djinns.

I plot a sea of planets in time lapse, emblazon them

on the linen sails of dhows. Under the sinking sun,

I undo the knots of latitudes and float adrift on the tide.

Petals of hanwha blooms tumble in purple clumps

trailing a mist of sea salt. The journey of a thousand

and one nights ends with the promise of germination -

petioles part, shoots pulse on the sands of laterite lands.

A slow osmosis - I press my ears to the shrivelled pleats

of a long-forgotten womb, straining to catch its echoes -

coves awash in dots of moon,

seafarers tethered to the stars,

cyan grains of sea salt rustling.

MIRAGE

CW: War, displacement

fallen mantle of summer

deep slumber of trusting deserts -

palimpsests of bull thistle

*

August air singed with gunfire

clang of shell shocked clocks

hands ossified at twilight

*

raw metal of armoured tanks

treads trimmed with tar and bone

night skies abloom with photons

*

edges of frayed borders

dusty mirage of Basra

pallor of unarmed angels

*

cool balm of the Euphrates

thin lease of afterlife

erasure of name and home

Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad is an Indian-Australian artist, poet, and pianist, who was raised in the Middle East. Her art and poetry have been published in both print and online journals and anthologies including The Eunoia Review, Vita Brevis Press, Bracken Magazine, and Black Bough Poetry. Her poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and her art multiple times for The Best of The Net. She serves as a chief editor for Authora Australis. She lives and works in Sydney on the land of the Ku-ring-gai people of The Eora Nation. Find her @oormilaprahlad and www.instagram.com/oormila_paintings