lungs

by Dipti Anand

the day we finally met   after not meeting

me    the butterfly  with a quiet past

you   catchy   like a tune

I recited an old story:

once I was barely here

mother’s heartbeat held me

while doctors said I was a natural

while father called my to-be brains his

but I knew       my birth had been a magic trick

yours too   you are air

with you   I discovered how to breathe

dancing twelve steps   in my tight button-less red dress

swaddling my body like saltwater pruned skin

though underneath    in a hollow cavity   filling with a drunkenness    

the air again   I suppose   full-bodied and heavy

moved inside me like a hurricane.

Based in New Delhi, India, Dipti Anand is an Indian writer, curator, and editor with an interdisciplinary master's of arts degree from New York University, among other adventures. Her writing has previously appeared in Catapult, the Aerogram, TXTOBJX, Scroll.in, Enormous Eye, as well as an anthology and several art catalogs. Her first novel was long-listed for the DZANC Books Diverse Voices Prize in 2020 and is seeking publication.