JODIE HOLLANDER
American poet, Jodie Hollander, was raised in a family of classical musicians. Her debut pamphlet, The Humane Society, was published with tall-lighthouse in 2012, and her full-length collection, My Dark Horses, is due out with Liverpool University Press in the spring. https://www.jodiehollander.com/
Kathmandu
How shall I remember Kathmandu—
my ama bathing me in cold well water,
wrapping me in a cotton petticoat,
and feeding me dhal bhat? I sat on the floor
and ate it with my hands, wondering then
if there was anything Nepalese about me,
but how could I know when I couldn’t
seem to stop myself from crying?
Even the village children tried to help:
they made me bracelets of orange string,
to ward off evil spirits, they said. They sat
in my lap, and tried to make me laugh.
A little girl braided my hair, a little boy
taught me to say ‘star’ in Nepalese.
But each night I’d lie awake, listening
to the howling dogs, scratching mice
and all the other creatures that lived with me,
and I wept until the first sounds of morning:
the chickens clucking outside our cow-dung hut,
ama banging pots and pans as she made
the morning chapatti. I’d keep my eyes fixed
on the window and wait for the darkness to lift,
revealing them monsoon bright, astounding
in size and always at my window: the Himalayas.
©2017 Jodie Hollander
Author Links
'Draft of a Dream' in Drunken Boat
'A Box' in Australian Book Review
Poetry in The Manchester Review
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