I am yoked to beastof burden, ox. Plowingin fields of plowed dancingdahlias, understanding dawns.I find hassled dandelions tetheredto gills of hope. Man I am free.I understand. Ox I am.I forget and plow.
If I Cared
Sid Ghosh
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“If I Cared” from YELLOW FLOWER GILLS ME WHOLE: by Sid Ghosh.
Published by Milkweed Editions on August 19, 2025.
Copyright © 2025 by Sid Ghosh.
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry Daily with permission.
Minneapolis, Minnesota
A visionary collection of poetry advocating for the excited, the rebellious, and the neuroqueer.
In this momentous debut, Sid Ghosh invites the reader “to be so free that it scares you.” Leveraging gem-like koans, technicolor wordplay, and earth-shaking wit, he creates startling new worlds in only a handful of words. As a nonspeaking autistic writer with Down syndrome who must navigate immense sensorimotor complexity, his short poems are both muscular and agile, displaying a dexterity replete with vertiginous grace: “Spinning I harness / poetry of the Earth. // The Sufi dances / in me to dare me // to scare your loud / soul to ensnare // my fearful mind to / bare some misery / to bear some truth.”
Ghosh writes beyond his years and from a perspective steeped in queer and fractaled sensibilities. As one who is “simply privy to a new road,” he renders neurodiverse thought patterns as truly divine. The poems that result bristle with wisdom, divergence, and the “generosity of deep rivers.” Unprecedented in its genius and composition, this collection of poems is sure to leave readers wide-eyed and breathless.
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