Tee-chuh by Nikita Azad

Tee-chuh

…here on this bridge between starshine and clay - Lucille Clifton

not green-leafed duvet polka-dot butterflies cloth-bound fairies how it swaddles us like children & never feels heavy not moonlight washing your hair & head- board of our queen-size walnut-frame bed not starshine occasional whistle & tumble of wind against windowpane not two of us screaming un-pain Urwelt of our bodies wafts of lather linen lemon not even that primordial soundwave shaft of sunlight it dances upon not indie into our ears but techno chitter chirrup chuhrrr chuhrrr but how we stand a second longer by the open window how the Great Tit sings Tee-chuh Tee-chuh how we rub the night’s cold clay through our soles on our bodies how you say in my ear Tee-chuh Tee-chuh

Nikita Azad (they/she) is a writer and researcher, who writes about the natural world, gender, selfhood, and human-nonhuman relationships. They are a PhD researcher in the history of science at Oxford University and a Nan Shepherd Prize longlisted author. Their work has been published in The Willowherb Review, Quince Magazine, History Workshop Journal, The Quint and more. They occasionally tweet at @Nikita_azad