These lines are for a child who counts out potatoes
And hands them to his mother,
She rinses them in the village stream—
Freckled red of potato skins, the color of the bird
Whose name is marked in long inscriptions, in copper plate
In a kingdom south of the mountains.
Meena Alexander has published seven books of poetry, most recently Birthplace with Buried Stones (TriQuarterly Books/ Northwestern University Press, 2013). Her works include the book of essays Poetics of Dislocation (University of Michigan Press, Poets on Poetry Series, 2009) and the critically acclaimed memoir Fault Lines. Her poems have been translated and set to music. She is Distinguished Professor of English, Graduate Center/ Hunter College, CUNY. www.meenaalexander.com
Photograph by David Lelyveld
