Sampurna Chattarji: Neither Reckless Nor Complacent
5.
Profundo russo.
Breathing the air is enough to ignite me, spontaneously.
I turn violent in water.
Later when the current has passed, I cool down and find
at my feet an optically pumping heart.
Gold is my ally, mercury my love.
I take pictures, I tell time.
Eyes of glass, my stomach turbine.
My safety, my health, my purity is in your hands.
Inert, you protect me.
Atomic, I move towards the next big number,
my alkaline sister, my earth metal kin.