Photography © Glenn Bowie

 

A Total Loss

A man, just a man, in a big Mercedes van.
Not a white man, or a black man, just a man

as brown as me —
tells me to go back to my country.

I wasn’t driving fast enough.
Accidents like this happen every day.

He paid me four thousand dollars in damages.
I wasn’t looking for a deal, hence,

I didn’t ask for a therapy or massages.
My car was fixed partially.

Else that was broken, it can not be repaired or replaced.
The appropriated compensation was a loss.

A total loss!

 

Kalpna Singh-Chitnis is an Indian American poet, writer, filmmaker, and Editor-in-Chief of Life and Legends. She is the author of four poetry books. Her poems, essays, and translations have appeared in notable journals and anthologies worldwide. Her full-length poetry collection Bare Soul was awarded the 2017 Naji Naaman Literary Prize for creativity. Her poetry has been translated into fourteen languages. Her poems and the short film River of Songs have been included in the Polaris Collection, Lunar Codex time capsule launching with NASA’s mission to the Moon in 2023. A former lecturer of Political Science, and an advocacy member of the United Nations Association of the USA, Kalpna Singh-Chitnis holds a degree in Film Directing from the New York Film Academy and works as an independent filmmaker in Hollywood.

Glenn Bowie is a published poet, lyricist and photographer from the Boston area. He also owns and operates an elevator company that supplies custom-built elevators for clients from New England to Hollywood. Author of two poetry and photograph collections (Under the Weight of Whispers and Into the Thorns and Honey) on Big Table Publishing, he donates all profits from his books to various charities for the homeless and local animal shelters.