I swat mosquitoes sitting in my backyard
drink iced tea under the blotchy shade
of magnolia trees

I could have been swatting mosquitoes
under coconut trees on another continent,
sipping hot tea, playing “find the matching shade”

Photos perused, passed through hands & comments
shipped across ocean—height, age & features
flattened across spreadsheets

We match skin like paint samples stacked
in rows at home improvement stores

Grab a few swatches
Think it over

Prasanta Verma was born under an Asian sun, raised in the Appalachian foothills in the south, and resides in the upper Midwest. Her poetry has been published in Relief Journal, Barren Magazine, Tweetspeak Poetry, Silver Birch Press, and she has forthcoming work in a New York Quarterly anthology.