To Become a Light
by Smitha Sehgal
Start the day Godless. Move towards rain. Turn into a darkening pine. Be stricken with the Devil. Steal into the hell in pitch dark. Brew mandrake root. Pay no heed to the shadows that sing. The moon expects you to talk, talk, talk. Rip apart your fears and whatever is left of the sleep and wakefulness. Pare your tongue. Boil emptiness. Thin slice your heart into neat squares. Garnish it with arsenic. Reach the finishing point in ten different ways. Think up an answer for not being a baby boomer. Pretend as though solar storms are a normal part of your menstrual cycle. Become blind. Slip into a soft hour till the crooked man drums it out in your head. Some women go out in the sun, a river rolled up under their arms. Untangle a verse at midnight.
Smitha Sehgal is a legal professional and a bilingual poet who writes in English and Malayalam. A Best of Net nominee, her poems have been featured in contemporary literary publications such as Ink Sweat & Tears, Osiris, Marrow Magazine, The Indianapolis Review and elsewhere. Her collection How Women Become Poems in Malabar (Red River) was conferred Runner-Up, The Wise Owl Literary Awards (Poetry Category) 2025. Her poem was long-listed for the Passionfruit Review Poetry Contest. She was chosen as Featured Poet, Erbacce Poetry Prize- UK, 2025 and her second collection, Brown God’s Child is forthcoming. She can be looked up at https://www.facebook.com/smitha.sehgal