How to be kind to yourself, like an 8-month-old – a poem by Kashiana Singh

How to be kind to yourself, like an 8-month-old


you stretch sadness taut, an
anaconda across the length 
of your spine, then
abandon it. 

this boy embraces every sadness, it 
fills up your face, like a montage.

aut dormi, aut lacte
hare krishna, krishna krishna 
meetha meetha, tera kiya meetha lage 


you fill yourself with him like a 
diligent squirrel at work
fore-paws around face
burp aloud

I hum lullabies
your name punctuates
my breath

When Kashiana Singh is not writing, she lives to embody her TEDx talk theme of Work as Worship into her every day. Her chapbook Crushed Anthills by Yavanika Press is a journey through 10 cities. Her newest full-length collection, Woman by the Door was released in Feb 2022 with Apprentice House Press.