Steps for Making Carrot Halwa
you pull out the orange body
holding it by its head-
scarf in fine green lace
you peel it in flaming ribbons
blazing the downward spiral
scraping the sunned seasons
bottled in light
noticing how it buried itself in weeks of underground labour
to offer its sweet gold
to take a journey
on the pink boat of your tongue
Saima Afreen’s works appear in The Kenyon Review, The Bellevue Literary Review, HCE Review, Barely South Review, The Bellingham Review, The Roanoke Review, The Stillwater Review, The McNeese Review, Summerset Review, The Nassau Review, The Oklahoma Review, and The Notre Dame Review among others. She’s pursuing a PhD in Creative Writing from Illinois State University. She penned a poetry collection, Sin of Semantics (Copper Coin), and a poetry chapbook, Winter Biomythography (Press 254). She was a Charles Wallace Creative Writing Fellow at the University of Kent, England. She was writer-in-residence at Villa Sarkia Writers’ Residency, Finland.
