Honorable Mention: 2023 Sandy Crimmins Poetry Contest
1
all the way back to when i was shrieking and my sister was too
pointing at juicy rhododendron
in the immigrant yard ie the Big Opportunity bouquet
now move i am consciously yearning
to get back to the hilarious of a near unknown a toddler mind
of anticipation
2
motherboards school districts everything tightens
around revisionist history
its not mumbai or bombay but new world
though what to un name
an implied no-name fate like urban boundary line
can we upend the field and the sea. no question
this this is not that different yet another project of long violence
worshipped thru lead paint siding plastic milk cups of petrichor
that seep out of the earth in the early morning
froglets that leap from feet falling on a sodden lawn
its not silicon valley but silicon forest
so sudden and devoid
inside this holding of white reserve and tact please say only one thing
it is pastoral through its gnosis, no it is a 90s network imaginary no
it is a test site for arranged marriage casteist progeny
ibid assimilationist light skinned success story ibid neoliberal
imperial generational deep well
3
now we have no birth order
or gender adjustment for falsified belonging we ruined it, gladly
no debt arrangement for time lost for years never mine to begin with
now i move consciously into a chaos magic of yearning
its a hot to the touch jaggery scented transmission here are my friends
that ive made and some space to sit in the garden
Leena Joshi is an artist, educator, and child of immigrants living in Oakland, California. Leena’s written works can be found in SFMoMA’s Open Space, the Berkeley Poetry Review, the Felt, Monday: the Jacob Lawrence Gallery Journal, TAGVVERK, La Norda Specialo, Poor Claudia, and bluestockings magazine, among others. They hold an MFA from the University of California, Berkeley’s department of Art Practice and a BA in Creative Writing from the University of Washington, Seattle.