Before it rains in Langtang, the rain dolls pucker their cotton lips, the satin-ribbed curtains blow with the rumbling thunder, the shutters of Sherpa lodge pull their cords and the windows are discovered open.
The river of the sky lagoons between two clouds, its many-colored reefs sweep around in their downward journeys until, at last, they plough the fragranced soil
and become mushroom, hibiscus, strawflower— even Java plums and lychees.
Birds and beasts
lash and jump like whales upon puddled water, macaques and snowmen become pilgrims along trails of waterlogged rubble, the rain dolls sway with beads of glint in their matte eyes, a slow spread
of their tangerine mouths, a promise of resurrection to maples and pines from tremors and losses from the year before.
Anannya Uberoi (she/her) is a full-time software engineer and part-time tea connoisseur based in Madrid. She is poetry editor at The Bookends Review, the winner of the 6th Singapore Poetry Contest and a Best of Net nominee. Her work has appeared in The Birmingham Arts Journal, The Bangalore Review, The Loch Raven Review, and Tipton Poetry Journal.
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