when milk is green, it is no
longer fit for drinking
tongues are made only for churning
white solids of milk, for separating
ocean salt from hurricane shelters
& leaving behind blandness
search for Vishnu to tell me
which is poison, which is
nectar, which is for eating
& which is for destruction
when an ocean is green, there
is much left to be done
oil to extract, lather on bodies
& skin desiccated by the harsh
grasp of saltwater crystals
drenched in heated milk
wonder why they used Mandhara
if oil drills were at their disposal
Uma Menon is a sixteen-year-old writer from Winter Park, Florida. She is the 2019-2020 Youth Fellow for the International Human Rights Art Festival. Her first book Hands for Language was shortlisted by the 2019 Erbacce Prize and is forthcoming from Mawenzi House Publishing.
