Bio
Anuradha Vijayakrishnan is an Indian writer living in Dubai. Her work has appeared or will be published in Stand Magazine, The Chakkar, Twenty-Two Twenty Eight, Borderless journal and Magma. She is the author of a poetry collection (The Who-am-I Bird, Bombaykala) and a novel Seeing the girl (LiFi Publications). Her work has been translated into Chinese, Italian and Arabic.
Anuradha Vijayakrishnan
Unniyappam
Plump like fresh plums but warm brown or sometimes
black as buried hearts. Round as a child's open mouth.
Easy to eat, humble, haughty,
easy to choke on (two-year-old died recently
somewhere). Easy to forget. Found easily if you are
home though mother doesn't make them. (Home
is a vanishing river, city with a new name and alien
facades, half sung song abandoned, language
I rehearse before I speak.) Found at every street corner,
first by smell, sound of tea whooshing rainbow arcs,
crackle of boiling oil, folksong clang of metal spoon and smoke
from ancient woodfires in lost grandmother tales.
Never made them in my kitchen.