Anoushka Kumar
SELF-PORTRAIT AS HOUSE LIZARD
on both sides / of the glass / I was / a primal girl / abject beast / then domestic horror / each night I shed tails / like skin / at the end of every regeneration / a writhing / so my limbs tapping / a firmer nature / oh I could survive / a body so easy to mend / being all bug eyes / and tough love / always a hair shy / of a knowing death / with my sad / armour of keratin / you osmose shame / till it is a conduit / to fear / and I think I know by now / how to feed / all my hungers / with light / or a tongue of ribbon / forking the underside / of memory / my head of humidity / scaled back / into a corner / a letter bent by wind / and this rain / from which I christened / another self / again, beetle-catcher / siren of fruit fly / that all I could have been / was a face / in your hands / saying again / and again to the night / that I love / you because I know you.