Nani By Tanya Rastogi

By The Rising Phoenix Review on July 12, 2024

Nani¹

A fish hangs gutted / its glassy blue baleful eyes / reflect the pallor of gray-brown skin / marred by long years left hanging / in the heat / the salt / searing every cut and blow / to her place, her honor / her life / disjointed / dreams left to rot in stagnant air / her children escape the flies / the stench / but she stays / ever present / marinating / unclean, they call her / she cannot decipher their words / stuck in the only place she knows / a putrid nation / a sea market, where limp flesh hangs / from every stand and corner / corrupt/ yes / but what can she do / they took away her home / her dignity / her self / she can remember those days / she swam in lakes / danced in the rain / gorged on syrupy sweets / from her mother's hand / now that is gone / washed away with each year's rain / gradual, the change / the memories swept into sewers / a sick harvest left behind / new fish / new goods / sterile / mutated / no honor / no love / poor her / they say/ all alone / they leave her in the dust / what are they doing / they won't tell / they rip her from her home / the sun's honeyed rays / the glittering rocks and lush trees / they extract the pieces / the foundation / now she is boneless / spineless / powerless / hanged on the altar of her own home / the booming industry / the lucrative fauna / she want's Maa's arms / her embrace / the children left hers / oh what will she do / they don't listen / but she stays here / blown by the wind / decaying / there is nowhere to go.

¹Nani - Hindi for 'maternal grandmother'.

By Tanya Rastogi

Biography:

Tanya Rastogi is an artist and writer from Bettendorf, Iowa. Her work has been published in The Adroit Journal, Oyster River Pages, and Kissing Dynamite, among others. She is the founding editor of The Seraphic Review. When she's not hunched over a screen, Tanya enjoys playing the flute and watching video essays.