Love of Poetry by Sushant Thapa

When I was learning

The names of the butterflies

Like dryad, which is

A Eurasian dark brown

You were already

Playing with them.

When you sat near

The bulb every night

And translated poetry

To English from Nepali

You dog-eared

Those crumpled sheets.

We watched

The movie Paterson together

Perhaps,

You understood right away

When in the movie it said

Something like

“Poetry in translation is like

taking a bath with a raincoat on.”

And man, when that

Pet dog tore and

Ate the written poetry

Collection of the hero

I believed you would

Give away translating, but

You were ridiculously

In love with poetry.

Although, Leaflet Review kept

Sending you rejection mail

Every day.

From when did Juno

Become your muse of poetry?

I keep wondering.

Or whom did you

Make your ultimate muse?

You said your

Taste of essence is variation

In poetic languages.