Mitali Khanna Sharma
RELIQUARY BESTIARY
If I understand it correctly, medieval Catholics were just so fucking confused and comforted by the Trinity… and I do understand that correctly because I’ve held my own canines too. I understand correctly that there can only be God between these folds of skin, fur, sunlight, sons, fathers and ghosts. So I’m at the dog park and I find myself pronouncing the bones behind me everyday… If I understand correctly, this is a space of worship because there are so many bones beneath the soil, beneath our bodies, all being spoken once more. There are so many of us, circling our companions, holding bags of shit. I meet an old Russian man there each Monday. He asks about my children each time (though I have just the pup) and tells me that they should know Punjabi. He wants to know it too so I tell him about the Qawwali but he says he cannot touch his lips to Islam. I want to tell him that I have tongued Catholicism too. I want to tell him that I will weep for my dead and fill myself with wine beside him. But I don’t. I promise to bring a God-free poem next week. Is this it?
If I understand it correctly, medieval Catholics were just so fucking confused and comforted by the Trinity… and I do understand that correctly because I’ve held my own canines too. I understand correctly that there can only be God between these folds of skin, fur, sunlight, sons, fathers and ghosts. So I’m at the dog park and I find myself pronouncing the bones behind me everyday… If I understand correctly, this is a space of worship because there are so many bones beneath the soil, beneath our bodies, all being spoken once more. There are so many of us, circling our companions, holding bags of shit. I meet an old Russian man there each Monday. He asks about my children each time (though I have just the pup) and tells me that they should know Punjabi. He wants to know it too so I tell him about the Qawwali but he says he cannot touch his lips to Islam. I want to tell him that I have tongued Catholicism too. I want to tell him that I will weep for my dead and fill myself with wine beside him. But I don’t. I promise to bring a God-free poem next week. Is this it?
Mitali Khanna Sharma (she/her) is a Punjabi-American interdisciplinary writer, artist, editor, and agroecologist. You can explore more of her work at mitalikhannasharma.com. Find her somewhere in the Midwest. Or on Instagram: @mitalikhannasharma.