Follow the plateau
play up your dreams
pit sand grains against
each other
so the sand slips
the deeper it gnaws 
into sandals

Follow
without your wallet
or permission from
daddy dearest 
go further than 
what the hills have seen
through their ice pick scars
through the mighty reserve
of what the deity leavens
pick and choose your path
up that hill, down this shore
among bushes and through
the dents in the sea bed

Hug the phoenix
even if you burn 
as you surmise in the heat
the nightmares billowing 
past the neighborhood you
would sell in a heartbeat

to a moghul 
to the painter
to point x fleeing from
a numerical fiasco

Remind yourself of your pen 
and ink and supple streams
of folded notes
and see if you still have eyes
for tears
lips to stretch and tongue to 
push back

These are rough roads
a means to an end 
without a feet to
dip into the ocean to sing 
it a lullaby before
it takes you far away
from your birthplace

Such is its promise,
in a nutshell.

Protiti Rasnaha Kamal is a graduate student at Tufts University, USA. Her debut poetry collection titled Bare Conversations was published in January 2022 by Journeyman Books.