; by Arush Desai (Mumbai, India)

jasmine tucked behind your right ear,
kohl carved under your eyes,
your whisper is song; & & &
if your mouth is a harmonica,
let me make music, thunder
as we bathe in moonlight, under the ocean of purplish
stars who will gaze at us, cheeks rouged 

---

i am entwined in you, my thing --
sun, i pray to you but to
my thing, i worship ;
misshapen deity, sing me a hymn
and ask me to surrender to your body
of a thousand shadows ask me to die and i will, i will, i will,
​
we dance like sufi poets
under the pomegranate tree that
is wounded with our initials
please wrap lemongrass over my fourth finger ;
let me place a hibiscus behind your let ear
oh, how sot you look — unpoisoned --
covered in silk, never polythene, my dear

warmth is frozen in your palms lotuses
hold me, save me, delicate thing
place a semicolon under my mouth
ater each kiss so i know there is
more to come i will wait sincerely;

sun, i pray to you
but to my love, i worship ;
forgiving deity, write me a letter , unearth my spirit , my poet ,
make me a promise of immortal love ; ; ; 

Arush Desai is a writer, student, debater and spoken word poet from Mumbai, India. He has published 'Mercury Poisoning' and 'My Radioactive Heart' and has written 'apple foam wrappers' which has been previously published in Cathartic Youth Literary Magazine. He was invited as a guest speaker by the Rotaract Club of Sion, Mumbai to speak on 'How to Publish a Poetry Book?'. He finds inspiration in flowers, concepts of physics, Mumbai and Lana Del Rey.