Nabina Das ​

• IN HAPPINESS, TREMBLE
  

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The day, each day, is itself.
The way it dawns and
then heart-steps itself
to the brink of folding in.
We think it is in happiness
that it trembles on leftover
soup bowls, rice plates, din
that we make. All the while
we suppose we're living.
We want a clean sky, air
smelling of detergents on
our hands. The spinach wilts
with too much attention.
Happiness tiptoes over
the terrace to find us tremble.
The blanched horizon sinks
before the birds are aflutter.
Whose happiness is it really,
we forget. Prepare a list
again to stay alive, stock food,
exchange bodily concerns.
There's a tremble rising slow:
The day, the night, the vast
space with stars, our stares
meditating shoe laces, old
underwear, and all knick-knack
we'll soon replace afresh. Write
another blatant ode to happiness.

Nabina Das is the author of five books—the poetry collections Sanskarnama, Into the Migrant City, and Blue Vessel; The House of Twining Roses (short fiction), and Footprints in the Bajra (novel). Das is a Charles Wallace, Sangam House, and Sahapedia-UNESCO fellowship alumna. An MFA from Rutgers-Camden, she is a journalist by training, a 2016 Commonwealth Writers correspondent, and a creative writing faculty in universities and workshops. Anima and the Narrative Limits is her forthcoming poetry volume.

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