by Aidan Chafe

She walks across the court
wearing a magenta sari from the old country,

passes a blur of boys & a reckless basketball
to collect her granddaughter from kindergarten.

She walks as if she is a ghost, oblivious
as a toddler, as though the world is waiting

to move out of her way. The boys brushing past,
the world slowing, & she remaining unscathed

like Kartikeya through the killing fields.

Poet’s note on Punjabi Schoolyard:

Kartikeya is the Hindu god of war.