SWWIM sustains and celebrates women poets by connecting creatives across generations and by curating a living archive of contemporary poetry, while solidifying Miami as a nexus for the literary arts.
I measure myself against the thunderstorm that comes unannounced— the weight of its howls, the air locked inside the cage of a black cloud, against my own held breath, or the trophy you won for your songs.
I measure myself in your whispers falling like condensation that stays on dutiful edges of forgotten coffee mugs, nervous, as if fingerprints locked inside of droplets could come alive.
I measure myself against sandcastles—weightless as they merge into pleated waves.
My weight is 30 pounds more than Laika, your dog, just before she died when she was old and fat—
ten pounds less than the maple in our front yard, its weight calculated by multiplying the volume of its presence by the density of its wood.
My weight can also be measured in bags of rice, flour, ragi—enough pulses for a satsang gathering at our own upcoming funerals. But some days it feels heavier than this house, a water-logged presence like the street wrapped around Maple enclave.
I am the curved intersection warping itself, a kingsnake doubled up around a cave.
Kashiana Singh calls herself a work practitioner and embodies the essence of her TEDx talk - Work as Worship into her everyday. She proudly serves as a Managing Editor for Poets Reading the News. Her newest full-length collection, Woman by the Door, was released with Apprentice House Press in 2022. Kashiana lives in North Carolina and carries her various geopolitical homes within her poetry.
