Never wear red.
Never wear GoldStar shoes.
Bury the batteries beneath the persimmon tree.
When someone asks you where you live, point at the neighbor’s house.
At the checkpoint when they ask you where you’re coming from, say Home.
After soccer, when the goalie says I wish the King were dead! don’t join the chorus of Long live the king!
or He is a Vishnu incarnate. He’ll never die.
At sundown, unplug the landline.
Before going to bed, leash the dogs.
Practice praying with open eyes.
If we’re not home by midnight, go to the neighbor’s house.
Never carry a red book.
Never carry a book in a Onepolar backpack.
When someone asks you if your ama teaches social studies at the secondary, say No. She shells raw
peanuts on the street.
Never leave the house without burning a butter lamp at Buddha’s feet and your ID.
When you hear We’ve a letter for you from your apa coming from a window, keep walking.
If you see us on the street being led away by two boys, think They’re my neighbor’s parents.
Practice praying on your knees.
Bolt the windows before listening to the news on the radio.
If you find our bed empty when you wake up, don’t go to the police.
Never draw the curtains when there’s still light.
When a soldier points the rifle at your heart Don’t you know this is the curfew hour? keep breathing.
When he takes his sweet time with the pat-down, look at the stars and think His hand is my
hand. Think I’m searching myself.
Burn the Onepolar backpack.
When someone at school asks you what your apa does, say He is dead.
If we’re not back after a week, call the Kathmandu Post.
Practice praying prostrate.
When someone asks you what you believe in, don’t say The street dogs that have stopped barking.
At the checkpoint when they ask you where you’re going, say Home.
Samyak Shertok’s poems appear or are forthcoming in Blackbird, the Cincinnati Review, Colorado Review, the Gettysburg Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, New England Review, Waxwing, and elsewhere. A 2020 National Poetry Series finalist, he has received fellowships from Aspen Words, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. His poems have been nominated for Best New Poets and The Best Small Fictions, and received an Association of Writers & Writing Programs Intro Journals Award in 2020.