Skip to content

Moni Brar Poetry Collection

Moni Brar Poetry Collection

– Poetry by Moni Brar –

Garam Cha {Hot Tea}

My nani’s cha –
cardamom
cloves, anise
gur
milk
thick, heavy
already warm
from the belly of our
water buffalo.
steeped on a chulha
poured into steel glasses
held by the rim.

My mother’s cha –
cardamom
cloves, anise
cane sugar
milk
homogenized, pasteurized
chilled
four litre jugs
Dairyland, Beatrice, Lucerne.
steeped on a stovetop
poured into mismatched cups
sipped over gossip.

My cha –
chai tea concentrate
4 pumps
for a Grande
milk
cow, soy, coconut, almond
steamed
non-fat, low-fat, 2%, whole
topped with foam.
steeping not required
served in paper cup with
a twin-tailed mermaid.

Nani: maternal grandmother
Gur: unrefined sugar without the separation of molasses and crystals
Chulha: a small earthen or brick stove built on the ground

Assam

He remembers Assam.
Endless plantations
with serpentine tails
winding down emerald hills,
a sea of green.

The smell of leaves,
unripened tea,
and the coming rains.
The mornings quietly consume
the long nights.

Quick fingers pluck
tender leaves,
shoulders quiver, longing for rest.
Damp heat rises
through soles of sandaled feet.

This old man,
with yellowed beard
and milky eyes,
remembers those days
spent under a different sky,

When limbs were long
and back unbent,
vistas shrinking and expanding
with each breath,
when any place felt like home.

He returns
to his dusty village
proudly bearing a tin of tea,
dismayed to see vessel coveted
and contents discarded.

About the Author – Moni Brar

Moni Brar is an uninvited settler on unsurrendered territories of the Treaty 7 region and Syilx Okanagan Nation. She is a Punjabi Canadian writer exploring diasporan guilt, identity, cultural oppression, and intergenerational trauma. She believes in the possibility of healing through literature. Her work appears in PRISM international, Hart House Review, Existere, FreeFall, Hobart, and other publications.

Did you like this poem by Moni Brar? Then you might also like:

The Identified Patient
What I want the surgeon to know
Sanctuary, and other poems
The Body as Poem
Metaplasia and other poems
This is What Death Does
Where Courage Lives
The Psychiatric Patient Profiled in My Application
Modern Medical Miracles
What the Mirror Says
Writing Myself Alive: An Episodic Poem
Breathing; Love These Lively Things
Oh Emma; Slow Dancing
In the Mirror, For My Mother
Zenstronomy: Zen of Instruction, Godma, Astrophysical Reality

Or, consider the following: 

To check out all the poetry available on Dreamers, like this poem by Moni Brar, visit our poetry section.

Like reading print publications? Consider subscribing to the Dreamers Magazine!

Tags: