A Teaspoon Speaks

Arundhathi Anil, India

I slant against the cup’s rim,

my limb flicked out, and clink

my back against ceramic, to make

tea-drinking a barbaric affair.

I’m out like a sore thumb, or some

phallic symbol in the smooth-talking

sphere of British domesticity.

I can’t see why it is, they leave me in

paddling at times, given I’m a tool

of restraint and exactitude, there to

touch so much indulgence, like Laura’s

Manuka honey that really shouldn’t be

touched by me – the little metal child

handled approximately, a mirror for your

everyday sensibility. For the young poet

I am a stainless-steel empire.

Arundhathi Anil is an Indian poet and English Literature graduate from the University of York. Her work has appeared in the Lucent Dreaming Magazine, Frontier Magazine, Ice Lolly Review, Looking Glass Anthology and Yolk Literary Journal. In her spare time, she enjoys translating Malayalam poetry and attending literature festivals