by Akshi Chadha
Grit1 into road
Sweet water 2 into pump
Tea 3 into land 4
Arm 5 into nation 6
Indigo 7 into cape
Embroidery 8 into muslin
Word into tongue 9
Setback 10 into skyline
Alloy 11 into rail track 12
Gospel 13 into law
Pink 14 into dawn
1 a murder of crows trodden
2 the same holy river twice touched
3 umber is dirt is soil is earth is skin
4 measured and weighed in mother
5 in power in sleeve
6 an opium poppy blooms
7 growing hunger is deep blue
8 tiny stabs stitch wound open
9 so full of names
10 scraping the metal sky
11 friction smells like gunpowder
12 settling into new frontiers
13 where the truth is
14 newly unearthed flesh
AKSHI CHADHA is a writer and literary editor. She is currently completing her MA in Creative Writing at the University of Toronto. Her work has been published in Canthius, The Lumiere Review, Parentheses Journal, Watch Your Head, and elsewhere. You can find her on Twitter at @akshi_chdh or at akshichadha.com.
The Undertaking can be found in Augur Magazine Issue 5.2.
