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Poem

Amarjit Chandan

LASAN GARLIC

In a distant country
When you come across a compatriot
You’re thrilled to the bones
Your eyes and your hands reach out to him
And a chain of words is formed

I came on it once, the Punjabi word lasan
written up on a huge billboard
For women farm workers
In a far-flung corner of California
And I felt
My language had welcomed me
Shaken my hands
Embraced me
Wished me good luck
For a moment the taste of the word
Lasan was like
A sugar lump on my tongue

Only words die
As a fish dies out of water
They lose their meanings
And gather new ones
Here the word lasan means—

Fifteen dollars a day
Bricks of the house
Ticks of the clock
A crane left behind in anguish
Gold ornaments
dresses and rings
The deep troubled waters of greed and indulgence

And very few fish escape the net

LASAN GARLIC

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LASAN GARLIC

In a distant country
When you come across a compatriot
You’re thrilled to the bones
Your eyes and your hands reach out to him
And a chain of words is formed

I came on it once, the Punjabi word lasan
written up on a huge billboard
For women farm workers
In a far-flung corner of California
And I felt
My language had welcomed me
Shaken my hands
Embraced me
Wished me good luck
For a moment the taste of the word
Lasan was like
A sugar lump on my tongue

Only words die
As a fish dies out of water
They lose their meanings
And gather new ones
Here the word lasan means—

Fifteen dollars a day
Bricks of the house
Ticks of the clock
A crane left behind in anguish
Gold ornaments
dresses and rings
The deep troubled waters of greed and indulgence

And very few fish escape the net

LASAN GARLIC

In a distant country
When you come across a compatriot
You’re thrilled to the bones
Your eyes and your hands reach out to him
And a chain of words is formed

I came on it once, the Punjabi word lasan
written up on a huge billboard
For women farm workers
In a far-flung corner of California
And I felt
My language had welcomed me
Shaken my hands
Embraced me
Wished me good luck
For a moment the taste of the word
Lasan was like
A sugar lump on my tongue

Only words die
As a fish dies out of water
They lose their meanings
And gather new ones
Here the word lasan means—

Fifteen dollars a day
Bricks of the house
Ticks of the clock
A crane left behind in anguish
Gold ornaments
dresses and rings
The deep troubled waters of greed and indulgence

And very few fish escape the net
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
Veerhuis
VDM
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère