Blood and Chai by Amritpal Singh Arora

Poem name: Blood and Chai Poet name: Amritpal Singh Arora Poem begins: Teabag Head they yelled. My topknot cloaked white, semi-see-through cloth. I, of a different fabric, responded with obscenities—albeit not as clever as their adolescent metaphors. If they only knew the aroma of cardamom and fennel, tasted the tension between cinnamon and orange pekoe, or accepted life as more than cold milk and the unadorned, bloody noses and ER visits may have been avoided. End of Poem. Credits: Copyright © Amritpal Singh Arora Previously published in This Magazine (July/August 2020). Amritpal Singh Arora is a writer of colour, working on his first collection of poetry. He is a practicing Family Physician in Burnaby, BC. His poetry has previously appeared in Living Hyphen Magazine, This Magazine, Train: A Poetry Journal Blog, The Canadian Medical Association Journal and The Canadian Family Physician.