I Don't Know What

Will Kill Us First:

The Race War or What

We've Done to the Earth

by Joy Deep Saha
Agartala, India

so I count my hopes: the bumblebees
are making a comeback, one snug tight
in a purple flower I passed to get to you;

 

your favorite color is purple but Prince’s

was orange & we both find this hard to believe;

today the park is green, we take grass for granted

 


the leaves chuckle around us; behind

your head a butterfly rests on a tree; it’s been

there our whole conversation; by my old apartment

 


was a butterfly sanctuary where I would read

& two little girls would sit next to me; you caught

a butterfly once but didn’t know what to feed it

 

so you trapped it in a jar & gave it to a girl

you liked. I asked if it died. you say you like

to think it lived a long life. yes, it lived a long life

Joy Deep Saha is a writer residing in India.
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