Nezhukumatathil - Lucky Fish

I wanted my mouth to fill with light, a rush of rind and pepper. I can still taste it like a dare across a railroad track, sure with feet-solid step. Im not allowed to be alone with scissors. I will always find a way to dig.

On my drive to work, I saw my neighbors lawn boiling over with birds. Like the yard was a giant lasagna and the birds were the perfectly bubbled cheese, not yet crisped and brown. And I was hungry to keep driving, driving all the way down to central Florida, to my parents house and into their garage, and up the pull-down stairs in their attic to find my old globe from 1983. I used to sit in the living room with Kenny Rogers playing on Moms record player. I spun and spun that globe and traced my fingers along the nubby Himalayas, the Andesmeasured with the span of my thumb and forefinger and the bar scale that showed how many miles per inch. I tried to pinch the widest part of the Pacific Ocean, the distance between me and India, me and the Philippines.

The space between the shorelines was too wide. My hand was always empty when it came to land, to knowing where is home. I dip my hands in the sea. I net nothing but seaweed and a single, dizzy smelt.

I cheer the prairie dog, who keeps watch on the outskirts of his town, knows exactly where to find a crunchy spider for dessert. Most of all, I sing for the two-headed calf who managed to live three whole days before it knelt beside its mama and sank into the mud. Praise the mud and its confusion with each quick slip of hoof. Praise the double song of sadness from the sleep-sloppy mouths. Praise the farmer who finally sussed it from the sludge and onto his back while the mama kicked the farmer until he split open. Praise his daughter who spied it all from her window.

Years later, shell still have nightmares about that day. The smell of linen and butter always bring her back. Praise each groan and sigh from her fretful sleep.

My man covers my cage at night with a tattered turquoise sari. I sleep with one eye open, just in case a white cricket creeps my way.

Can you hear the tinny music of the bone? Beetles you have never seen before will wind their legs in protest. banana stone On a moonless night, leaves point skyward and you may see whole devils tripping over themselves just to peel into this fruit. Watch out for the cleft of their pointy chins. boa stone The large snakes have a nail concealed under their tails. Break it off while the snake is still alive and place it under your tongue. fire stone When someone is burned to death, find a crispy calculus from that spot. fire stone When someone is burned to death, find a crispy calculus from that spot.

Let the spirit of that crawling stone shake your pocket. You will be so rich.