SACRED YOU

“…It’s mostly that album A Love Supreme. It feels sacred to me. I had a friend once tell me A Love Supreme is convincing evidence for the existence of God. And that’s really stuck in my head ’cause it’s a little bit true to me.” – John Green, in conversation with Ashley Ford and Kelly Stacy

As if the hands that built this were not so terribly human.

As if the stones are not the slightest bit uneven.

As if there is a waterfall somewhere that could kill this song.

As if the call of a bird is grander than all of the laughter we found.

Look, the stars are shimmering – their masses are exploding with joy.

Look, the earth turns slower so that we may hold on.

This beautiful life is proof that we are all alone to love it.

Alone in your bedroom and evening is the colour of a fictional apocalypse.

As if our cigarette smoke and my lipstick and your hands could be divine.

As if the jazz playing means something other than the universe singing to itself.

As if there could be anything more extraordinary.

 

ME AND MY GF WILL CHANGE THE WORLD

we are holding hands in a sea of rainbow

we are growing into each other, slowly

her voice is louder than mine, her lipstick darker

I lift her while the others lift banners

we lock eyes with the girls from the neighborhood gay bar

the first boy I kissed

the last person who held me while I drunk-cried

me and my gf are riding a wave of multicolored glory

we will save the world, we will overthrow every last oppressor,

we will march governments to the ground

me and my gf are proud

me and my gf are glittered up

me and my gf explode in love all over the street with all of our friends

we are short haired, moondance poetry

we are silver-ringed stereotype,

dark eyed and honey voiced, loud

and reckless

me and my gf live in our own little world

when the shouting is over and we go home,

I kiss her like nobody is watching

I kiss her

and nobody is watching

this is where the revolution begins

Umang Kalra is an Indian poet studying History in Edinburgh. She is the Poetry Editor at the Brown Orient, a literary journal platforming women and LGBTQ+ people from mainland and diasporic South, Southeast, Central, and Southwest Asia. Her work has previously appeared in Glass: A Journal of Poetry, Cotton Xenomorph, Vagabond City, Fallow Media, and others. She tweets at @umangkalra__ and writes at theanatomyletter.tumblr.com.

featured image: Bob Modem