vi. cheap hotels in paharganj, july/august
from a short history of longing by Karan Kapoor, a finalist in the Vallum Chapbook Award contest for 2023
my sodden spirit………………………….. still broods around
every bed………………………..that carried our small backs
as we shadowed …………………………… against each other
every wall …………………………………………wanted to echo
our moans and later ……………………………….your snores
but could not ………………………..because of the curtains
Bach …………………and duvets all ……………..made hard
made illegal ……………by our howls………….movements
the mirrors…………………………………..still hold our hide
and blood…………………………………..flooding the rooms
whenever anyone flicks…………………………..light
as the walls……………………………whimper back to them
every pillow I crowned…………..over your mouth
and you chewed…………………………………………to muffle
the moans…………………………………………that slit a river
out of your whole…………………………………………..being
for nine-hundred a night………………………….we surfeit
the yen……………………..of our boyhoods in flux
Karan Kapoor is a poet from New Delhi, India. They have been awarded or placed for the James Hearst Poetry Prize, Frontier Global Poetry Prize, Ledbury Poetry Prize, Red Wheelbarrow Prize, and BLR Prize among others. Their manuscript A Condensed History of My Father’s Addiction was a finalist for the Iron Horse Literary Review chapbook prize, and Portrait of the Alcoholic as a Father a semi-finalist for the Charles B. Wheeler Poetry Prize. Their poems have appeared or are forthcoming in AGNI, North American Review, Los Angeles Review, Colorado Review, Rattle, Arts & Letters, and elsewhere. They’re an MFA candidate at Virginia Tech. You can find them at: linktr.ee/whyareyounotreading
