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Warmth by Kalpana Asok, LMFT

A flannel shirt
still hot from the dryer

Immersive heat
in a baked car
on a windy day

A steaming bath

A coarse sun-dried towel

Snapping fire
cinders flying

Nothing matches
no equal to
A flung-body hug

Arms locked
around neck

Faces mashed
Grinding teeth

I love you
I love you
Face Squeezed
Fish lips

Piercing eyes
Noses smushed
Locking eyes

Amma,
Are you listening?
Amma?

I love you.

Kalpana Asok is a licensed psychotherapist currently in private practice in Saratoga. She is also a poet and the author of Who's baby is it, anyway? Inside the Indian Heart, which is a collection of essays on South Asian culture and aspects that impact the family's psychosocial space within and outside India. She moved to the United States from Bangalore, India over 30 years ago and has been practicing for over 23 years. You can learn more about Kalpana here. Below is a poem from her book Everyday Flowers.

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