By Mrinalini Harchandrai

They step out
when you sleep
or you’ve left the house

we gauge their size
from whorls in flour
or ant lines to fallen honey
they sleep with forks
dance with serving spoons
and fly on knife-like brooms
casting their spells
with spilled cashew apples
and jackfruit pits

sometimes you might see
their cat shine eyes
in passing car lights
sweeping the azulejos

Read the full poem in our print anthology ‘The Brave New World of Goan Writing 2018.’ Buy the anthology here.

Mrinalini Harchandrai debut collection of poetry, A Bombay in My Beat (Bombaykala Books, 2017), explores the soundtrack of the city, personal cadences and jazz poetry. She won first prize in The Barre (2017) and was longlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2018. Her poems have also appeared in several literary journals. She is editor and co-publisher at Bombaykala Books.