The September 2007 poetry project consists of writing one poem per day in the month of September and putting it up for public consumption regardless of its state of completion.

Poem 22. Global Mala

I dedicate my practice and my poem

to the girl on the mat beside me.

She squirrelled her glasses in a sneaker,

and sat straight and erect beside me,

Her hands clasped in her lap.

Her ribs swelling and collapsing with each breath.

She wore a jap mala on her wrist

which I looked at on every Chaturanga Dandasana,

as if counting the beads,

the 108 beads,

one for every sun salutation.

I didn't count after six, but I tried.

©Rachel Levine 2007