From our Fall 2015 issue, Manisha Anjali‘s poem “Pharoah Sanders in the Cleaning Lady’s Bedroom” is as jazzy & intoxicating as the musician it’s named after.

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I WAS BEAUTIFUL IN 1999
my flamingo legs flamingo’d you
moon me/ moon you/ moon two.
the stars saw/ the larks saw
Pharoah by Pharoah Sanders on repeat.
this cleaning lady flamingo’d to spaceland
in spaceland you are lost daddy
my flamingo legs don’t dance on their own
they wait for saxophones/ daddy two-times
they wait for the messiah/ the dreammaker
moon cool/ moon blue/ mmmmm
I flamingo’d you high/flamingo’d you wild
in the Village of Pharoahs in 1999
I flamingo’d you off you wino/ you old boy/
you black darling/ you old star
on Karangahape Rd hitchhiking to spaceland
with a suitcase full of larks & gin.
I flamingo’d to spaceland daddy two-times with
Pharoah by Pharoah Sanders on repeat.
in my blood room my moon shone through/
moon/watch me be a bright pink bird
true I could still flamingo you
moon me/ moon true/ mmmmm
I was beautiful in 1999

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MANISHA ANJALI is a poet who lives in Melbourne, Australia. She grew up in Fiji and New Zealand. Manisha has been published in Blackmail Press, Mascara Literary Review,Seizure, Faint Magazine and The Adventure Handbook. She was awarded a Hot Desk Fellowship by The Wheeler Centre in 2013. www.manishaanjali.com.