Saris by the Seaside

I love stumbling upon photos of Indian ladies by the sea.

My mother matches her beauty mark

with her kumkuma, hidden inside glossy white borders.

Grasping their braids in the breeze, I see them

hitch up their saris and fold the silky waves

jauntily above their haunches.

Pleats get tucked away with modesty –

their knobby knees and chubby calves lighter

than the bellies above their petticoats.

The photos bleed into motion – flowers lain down

to the Arabian or the Kaveri,

aunties splashing and wishing

The spirit uplift wouldn’t slip away

like their saris slide back to earth,

gold-stitched edges dipping into polluted waters

Mirroring the glimmer of the sun

on its slow crawl to the horizon as, haltingly,

the photos quiet once more.

Archana Sridhar is an Indian-American poet in Toronto, Canada. Her chapbook “Renderings” is available through 845 Press, and her chapbook “Our Initials Were U.S.A.” is forthcoming with Ethel micro-press. Archana’s writing can be found at www.archanasridhar.com.