Phonetics
Akshi Chadha
my beginning sounds like uh
(not a: or æ)
close to the fish crow’s call
echoing in the empty marsh pit
uh
just the way I say it
as you hold my eye
and ask me my name
sound of a fogging breath
in the morning snow
synaptic void between
garbled thoughts
on how to kiss-feed
an unscripted syllable
I once made a list of words (uh-tempted)
like a great surrealist (uh-bsurdist)
resonances (uh-mendments)
that emulate me (uh-ssimilate)
but where I come from (uh-version)
a name is just (uh-pology)
and it sounds something like
the next time you see my face
try to recall the beginning
tongue doesn’t quite stick
to the soft palette
so you make it new
hold my eye like a beam
I answer.
(not a: or æ)
close to the fish crow’s call
echoing in the empty marsh pit
uh
just the way I say it
as you hold my eye
and ask me my name
sound of a fogging breath
in the morning snow
synaptic void between
garbled thoughts
on how to kiss-feed
an unscripted syllable
I once made a list of words (uh-tempted)
like a great surrealist (uh-bsurdist)
resonances (uh-mendments)
that emulate me (uh-ssimilate)
but where I come from (uh-version)
a name is just (uh-pology)
and it sounds something like
the next time you see my face
try to recall the beginning
tongue doesn’t quite stick
to the soft palette
so you make it new
hold my eye like a beam
I answer.
Akshi Chadha is a writer and literary editor from India. She is currently pursuing an MA in Creative Writing at the University of Toronto. Her work has been published in Canthius, The Lumiere Review, Parentheses Journal, The Roadrunner Review, Watch Your Head, Occasus, and elsewhere.
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