Godly Neighbours by Moni Brar - Augur Literary Society

GODLY NEIGHBOURS

by Moni Brar

Kālī is not a blue-skinned goddess; she is my neighbour who visits weekly.
We do not talk about death and destruction; we sip butter tea.

Kālī confesses she is a spore of the most sudden bloom.
She does not strike unnatural poses, and garners respect fathoms deep.

Durgā is not a mother goddess; she tucks her many arms behind her back.
She is a fortress that we all want to call home; she is weary and restless.

Durgā informs me that she wants to become part of the wilderness.
How can I deny her when she holds out her hands?

Pārvatī weeps at my kitchen table; she says the centre cannot hold.
She has lost her form; she picks bottles and watches the sun burn.

Pārvatī tells me she was never the forest nor the sea; she was only a pine needle.
I ask her if she is the creator or the destroyer; she holds my hand.

MONI BRAR was born in rural Punjab and raised on the land of the Tse’Khene peoples. Hailing from a long lineage of illiterate subsistence farmers, she spends much of her time contemplating land, loss, language, and longing. Her creative work aims to invoke belonging, as well as class, gender, and racial equity. She is the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth Platinum Jubilee Medal, the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Award, and The Fiddlehead’s Poetry Prize. Her poetry appears in Best Canadian Poetry, The Literary Review of Canada, Passages North, and elsewhere. She believes art contains the possibility of healing.

Godly Neighbours can be found in Augur Magazine Issue 6.2.