Welcome to “Poetry at The Arts Fuse.” A new poem every Thursday.

Hole Shine Bright

can you hear the whisper?
the whistle blower
the way a hole
in a body
makes an audible sound
oh, you, are you a mechanical thing?
can you hear it?
see gaps of light
shine from the soft space
of a newborn’s skull
how can it be named ghost
when light shines down
drenching us
no scary skin scars, here
give unto us our Vitamin D
remove space clouding our heads
and let us be, be
the night sky written
and written again
forgive me, here we go, again—
see those stars?
so bright
unseen
in the bright of day?
the sun must leave us each day
to let us know
in the dark sacks
of our confined bodies—
even when we don’t feel it—
light hums

A tenured professor at the City University of New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Sanjana Nair’s poetry has appeared in various journals ranging from Spoon River Poetry Review to Fence Magazine. Deeply invested in collaboration, her work has been performed at Tribeca’s Flea Theater and featured on National Public Radio’s Soundcheck. She has performed at Barnes & Noble in NYC’s Union Square to the Rubin Museum. She resides in Virginia with her family.

Note: Hey poets! We seek submissions of excellent poetry from across the length and breadth of contemporary poetics. See submission guidelines here. The arbiter of the feature is the magazine’s poetry editor, John Mulrooney.

— Arts Fuse editor Bill Marx