he stutters
between / rooms as
if in search of
a foil-wrapped
sweet / stops and
stammers his
feet
tap-tap-tap trying
not to fall / suddenly
disease makes my
baba a baby / animal /
helpless thing he is
small / in
happiness unspoiled
yellow glow
but yells when
he is / sad and
afterwards expects
the wind to
rush in / breathlessly
and apologize for
him

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Uma Phatak is a Marathi poet from Ellicott City, Maryland. Her writing has been supported by the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and VONA. Her poems have appeared in or are forthcoming in Honey Literary, The Passionfruit Review, Wild Roof Journal, and Exacting Clam. She lives and works in San Francisco. Her writing can be found at [https://umaphatak.com](https://umaphatak.com/).