Status Updates From Coconut

“What is a man if not a woman’s impending startle, impact and ground all at once, where else have we been told to grow if not beneath the pad of a thumb…”

“The girl in the green apron slips a cardboard sleeve around my cup
Like a noose
The latte sitting between us is full of compromise. I feel my mother’s bones in my hands bend around its frail neck, cradle the warmth of my indulgence and shame”

"the girl in the green apron asks me for a name to stain on
the white casket where she will brew my bloodlines
into something more palatable for seventh-generation toungues"

Loving this. Powerful contemporary poems full of emotion. Spoken word doesn't always translate well when on the page, but Patel is clearly a master of the craft.