First Anniversary, With Monkeys

By Aimee Nezhukumatathil

 

Periyar Nature Preserve

 
There is no crumbly frozen cake to thaw.
Today, we are in the jungle. I mean mosquito. I mean
 
tigers and elephants sludging their way
to the lake for a drink and Don’t make sudden moves
 
or snakes startled from an afternoon nap
will greet you fang first. I think we are lost. Too hot
 
for any cold confection to survive. Even my tube
of sunblock is as warm as a baby’s bottle. You get
 
to those places I can’t reach, those places I dared
not even whisper before I walked down the aisle
 
in white. You never worried if our families
would clash, if they would clang like the clutch
 
of pale monkeys clanging the thin branches of the treetrops,
begging for our trail mix. You never worried
 
about my relatives staring at your pale, muscled calves—
things not usually seen outside of the bedroom. You wore
 
hiking shorts anyway. And still, they lavished ladle-fuls
of food on your plate. I think we are lost. My eyes are dark
 
and wet as that wild deer that walked right past us,
a little off the trail. I think we are lost, but for once
 
I don’t mind. Eventually you turn us back to a place
not on any map, but I know I can trace it back with my finger
 
if we ever need it again. We made it one year
without a compass and we’re not about to start now.