Poetry 2018 Longlist, Jagari Mukherjee

Remaking Magic Carpet & Finding Pink Sneakers 


Please lend me your magic carpet,
Or let me sit beside you for a while.
To cramp your style is not my goal,
But the new wool is now old;
The best wool of Garment District is now fraying.
I have brought my own yarn.
I will remake your carpet with black and gold.
I don’t like the white, for white is always graying.
Why do I need your carpet?
Why can I not run?
Because I lost my pink sneakers in the Past,
And my memory is sore with me.
I have looked at the shelves of every city store
But found none –
And so, I need your carpet to run
In the hour of the sun when the
Moon is full and in Capricorn.
Only then can the carpet become
A glowworm in the dark, or a lantern.
Let the Past swirl by like a footloose cloud;
But I imagine it will spew out
My pink sneakers like a star.
I need the magic carpet to show off
So that the crowd from my Past
Does not blacken and tar me
For being too wild and free…
You understand now – that
The only things I need
Are gold and black wool, and speed.