Dancing in Club Kali | Jagdeep Raina
December 1, 2020
Club Kali, 2020 | photo: Cooper Cole Gallery
Club Kali
It was Chitra Ganesh
who told me about Club Kali
these roots had been planted decades ago
like any good student I let her
pour this new found
lucky kismet over me
It was Chitra Ganesh
who freed you of those
rigid constraints. That corporate, putrid
dry building in downtown Providence
like dirt being spit out
of your throat for good
It was Chitra Ganesh
who says you can do whatever I want
who says you can hold this history in my hands
who says I can still see
how it must have risen
alongside her lover, Daytimers
It was Chitra Ganesh
who says to taste the
escape and bliss, the
self pride and desire, the
traces of her
that still exist
It was Chitra Ganesh
who pointed you towards
Foreign Land/Vilayati Tarti
rough cut by Sheba Remy Kharbanda
Parminder Sekhon, Red Threads
Sunil Gupta
It was Chitra Ganesh
who danced to DJ Ritu
spinning records in Hounslow
Poulomi Desai in Brixton
with The Dead Jalebis, a low carbon
boogie woogie dripping with intoxication
It was Chitra Ganesh
who allowed your tongue to touch my lips
our eyes closed, sweet like burfi
in the toilets they played dress up
lengths of violet and vermillion
dream baby dream
Jagdeep Raina is an artist and emerging writer based in Guelph, Ontario. Raina holds an MFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design and has been an artist in residence at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Madison, Maine; the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts; the Camden Arts Centre/Slade School of Fine Art in London; and the Miriam Dawood School of Art and Design in Lahore, Pakistan.
