How to live forever- a formula.
Some people live forever in their anecdotes and recipes
that become fairy tales and rasam, that drip down generations
or in flower carpets of December 2021
that’ve scattered from trees they’d planted in 1953.
Some live in ancient scandals- now modern tales of bravado
i.e- grandaunts who worked and cousin-uncles who married someone from Japan.
And others simply live on in their prominent noses,
their three passed down Kanjeevaram saris,
and their embroidered cross-stitch flower cushions that prop today’s sofas.
The eyes of some bore through black and white photographs
so you’re compelled to ask your mother, “who was that?”
And they live on too, these ancient poseurs.
And there are those whose names cling to
the roses they’ve cross-bred
and the parasitic wasps they’ve discovered-
a swarm of fluttering T.Sankarans.
We have our Vit E, our pilates
our green tea and collagen supplements
but to truly live long enough all you actually need
is a very good story or an excellent rasam.
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