A Leaf
written by: Kalpna Singh-Chitnis
@AccessKalpna
A leaf isn’t just a leaf.
It’s a map of the universe.
A giant highway runs through its spine
and its veins fork, like roads running in all directions.
A leaf takes us on a journey
to our very first home, the tree.
In a leaf, the sun and clouds are hidden,
the moon flakes and bird songs are trapped.
A leaf sitting in my lap, I bring it close to my ear
and hear it like a conch shell, echoing the waves of times.
Kalpna Singh-Chitnis is a Pushcart Prize nominated, multiple award-winning Indian-American poet, writer, filmmaker, and author of four poetry collections. Her works have appeared in notable journals such as World Literature Today, Columbia Journal, California Quarterly, Indian Literature, Silk Routes Project at (IWP) The University of Iowa, Stanford University's Life in Quarantine, etc. Her works have been translated into fourteen languages. Poems from her award-winning book Bare Soul and her poetry film “River of Songs” have been included in the "Nova Collection" and the "Polaris Collection" Lunar Codex time capsules to go on the moon with NASA's "Nova-C lander missions to Oceanus Procellarum" in 2022 and "NASA VIPER rover mission to the Lunar South Pole" in 2023. A former lecturer of Political Science, she is also the Editor-in-Chief of Life and Legends, the Translation Editor of IHRAF Literary, and an Advocacy Member of the United Nations Association of the USA. Her forthcoming poetry collection
Trespassing My Ancestral Lands is in the making.
Trespassing My Ancestral Lands is in the making.
Latest posts by Kalpna Singh-Chitnis (see all)
- Lost - June 20, 2023
- A Bird of a Rare Species - February 15, 2023
- The Earth Remembers - June 5, 2022
