she, temptation
curved coastline & hair black as boot
mother india with her sari hiked up
temple in her legs forgotten
& doesn’t starch just
glide against her
she, reborn daffodil
crumples slickly into rot
ground bared for McDonald’s playground
children wearing English like
clear braces & acne medication
oil carefully fingering tooth marks
she, fish-eyed beauty
water creature saved from oncoming
tsunami
thermostat turned down
pence rattling against her deities
gasp reborn in cracked lipstick
she, lawless
loose hair trapping curls of smoke
tobacco decorating center part & spit saying
I do for her
Rukmini Kalamangalam is a page and performance poet from Houston, Texas. She is a graduate of Carnegie Vanguard High School and a current freshman at Emory University. In 2018, she was named Youth Poet Laureate of the Southwest and a National Youth Poet Laureate Ambassador as well as Houston Youth Poet Laureate. Her poem, “After Harvey,” was set to music by the Houston Grand Opera. She has been published by the Houston Chronicle, ABC 13 Visions, and Mutabilis Press, with forthcoming work in Polyphony Lit and the Kweli Journal. She has been recognized by the Harris County Department of Education and nationally by Scholastic Writing Awards.