Darn You Jasmine
By Simrita Dhir
jasmine grows in my yard
its white flowers twinkling in the air
i smell it in the evening to catch a whiff
of long-ago girlhood that sits twined around a jasmine vine
in the left-behind land where mynahs sang
this is not night jasmine claudio reminds me
for the nth time
yes yes of course I tell myself
this one is another variety of jasmine and not
the night jasmine — sweet wild intoxicating
night jasmine and mynahs take on mythic dimensions in my mind
like I never knew them but I did in the left-behind land just as
I did koels kachnaar blooms gulmohar petals
and a wide-eyed younger me
darn you jasmine why do you evoke
past sights smells sounds memories
make me crave gawky teenage with its
callow foolishness and uncertainty
god knows it takes a lot to get where i have —
a breathless flight over 2 colossal oceans
sweat toil tears rebirth resurrection
