Looking out on the Kerala Floods, 2018: Tanka

Looking out on the Kerala Floods, 2018: Tanka

There is the single
lamppost in steady-falling
rain—a thousand lights
whirl in the pooling waters
of the rose bed, uncertain.

A neighbor brings herbs
for our sick baby. I call
Nani to tell her
how fishermen are using
their boats to rescue people.

By morning there won't
be any clouds left—just a
thousand hungry birds
under the bright sun trying
to fill their bellies again.