ODE TO THE FUZZ ABOVE MY UPPER LIP

 

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Praise to the fuzz above my upper lip

grassmown but not completely,

my light moustache

like a thin caterpillar of hair

inching towards eternity,

unfazed 

by Veet, tweezers, Braun electric razors,

wax strips, the humble thread and depilatory creams, 

always growing back, my stubborn stubble,

my perennial plant with a robust root system 

much older than me,

o small but visible furred beast

I used to bleach as a teen

even as it burned my skin, forgive me,

o black savannah my lover tolerates

when we kiss, un-wanted, un-desired, un-pleasant,

all my aunties hounding me

to trim you, balance my hormones,

take pills, not look like a man-woman,

woman-man, 

why are you living like this when you could be beautiful,

my handlebar, my horseshoe, my chevron,

let me promise you this:

when I die and they garland my portrait,

I’ll make sure they choose the one

where you’re penciled in. 

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BIO:

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​​Kunjana Parashar is a poet from Mumbai. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Poetry Northwest, Sixth Finch, The Adroit Journal, and elsewhere. Her manuscript They Gather Around Me, the Animals, selected by Diane Seuss, has won the 2024 Barbara Stevens Poetry Book Award. She has received the Toto Funds the Arts award and the Deepankar Khiwani Memorial Prize. 

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