Poetry Tag: Aimee Nezhukumatathil is IT

Yesterday Carrie Fountain took us down the highway with her poem , “El Camino Real 3” and then tagged Aimee Nezhukumatathil who writes, “I included the following poem of mine because I think it speaks to Carrie's poem about the waiting and anticipation of both human and, in this case-- animal, of waiting for some small bit of magic, of always being open and alive to at least the possibility of it happening in your life, no matter how strange or unexpected the source.” Here is her provocative poem.













FORTUNE-TELLING PARROT
(IDUKKI, INDIA)
By Aimee Nezhukumatathil

I will pick
a black card

of luck for you:
star, pinkmoon,

mirror, ostrich eye,
and jasmine bloom.

You may want
to ring my neck

with a tiny strand
of lantana if you

like what you see.
Or tear my red beak

in two angry pieces
like a pistachio.

My man covers
my cage at night

with a tattered
turquoise sari.

I sleep with one eye
open, just in case

a white cricket
creeps my way.

Five fun facts about Aimee Nezhukumatathil
*she born in Chicago, IL
*her mother is a Filipina and her father is South Indian
*she has a dachshund dog named Villanelle
*she received a 2009 Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts
*she is Associate Professor of English at State University of New York-Fredonia

Look for these selected poetry books by Nezhukumatathil:
*At the Drive-In Volcano (Tupelo Press, 2007)
*Miracle Fruit (Tupelo Press, 2003)
*a chapbook, Fishbone (2000)


Next up: Matthea Harvey




Posting (not poem) by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2010. All rights reserved.

Image credits:photo by Marion Ettlinger; http://www.aimeenez.net/page4.html; tagyoureitonline.com;captainstlucifer.wordpress.com/2007/08; blog.syracuse.com