Dopamine
for Heidi
the clock sheds hair
ticks
to animal time
bone-sadness
drools
meaning
microscopes
into the moment
terrific tumid
the itch always
within reach
all sea and land
in the globe-body
navigable by claws
knowledge sticks
to the nose
know-how
to the limbs
wisdom
to the gut
tongue
the day end-to-end
filled with the green
business of the present
all that is
to be cast out
and cast in
heady pumping
of life
steady defiance
of death
not that it will not come
but there will be
a volley of barks
against every grey
thought-moth
that flies in
Basudhara Roy
Basudhara Roy teaches English at Karim City College and is the author of four collections of poems, the latest being A Blur of a Woman (Red River, 2024). Drawn to themes of gender, ecology, and mythology, she writes, edits, reviews, and sporadically curates and translates poetry from Jamshedpur, India.