Description of the Book:
 
threshold

I go to bed and float
The clinking of payals. A Jagjit Singh ghazal.
Murmurs of baby-talk in Tulu that I never learnt to speak
I wake up and try to translate
In my dream I just understand.


In Japanese, when someone comes back home, there is a routine exchange of “Tadaima” meaning “I'm back home (now)” followed by the phrase “okaeri”, “you’ve returned home”. This poetry collection encapsulates the warmth and gratitude felt for a loved one's safe return home, the relief of welcoming yourself back home, and the rightness of home— whether it's a physical space, community, or your own body.

This book documents the cyclical journey a homecoming represents. To return home, you have to leave first, and the meandering is as much part of the process as the return. In a post-colonial world, growing up and dealing with your dysphoria and sexuality is complicated. Most of us grow up unable to name what we’re feeling.

These 21 poems explore the themes of mother-“daughter” relationships, grief, trauma, love, reclamation, the divine, sunshine, healing, and home. Within this collection, there is an eleven-part series of tankas—a Japanese form of 31 syllabic unrhymed poetry following a 5-7-5-7-7 pattern. It uses the lens of colours to document homecoming to your people, your body, and your heart.