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# One Poem by Karthik Purushothaman
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/one-poem-by-karthik-purushothaman/
- Published: 2019-09-11T11:00:38.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:39:23.000Z
- Description: Our poetry editor, Wendy Xu, has selected one poem by Karthik Purushothaman for her monthly series that brings original poetry to the screens of Hyperallergic readers.
- Author: Wendy Xu
- Tags: Poetry, Hyperallergic Poetry, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:34 (2019, 2020, part 1)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2019/09/vincent_van_gogh_-_the_olive_trees_-_google_art_project.jpg)

Vincent Van Gogh, “Olive Trees with the Alpilles in the Background” (1889) (via Wikimedia Commons)

## Bright Lights, Big City

*You’d wish you had a-listened* 
*to some of the things I said*  
—Jimmy Reed  
no matter  
which cocktails  
you consume  
in air  
\-conditioned  
nations  
we understand  
ourselves best  
through the fruit  
of our homeland  
especially one  
oft mistaken  
for a nut  
says a farmer  
taking a picture  
of me melted  
on an islet  
eating a kernel  
of truth as the  
blue ocean  
welcomes  
a muddy  
river with  
Sargassum  
seaweed  
garlands

\* \* \*

Karthik Purushothaman comes from Chennai, India, and taught at William Paterson University and New Jersey City University after earning his MFA. Karthik’s work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and the Best New Poets anthology, and has also appeared in *Boulevard*, *EVENT*, *Rattle*, *Subtropics*, *The Common*, *The Margins*, and *Writers Resist: The Anthology 2018*. Uniting progressive activists and independent artists, Karthik hosts a live show in Manhattan every month, about which you can learn more by following [@arealtalkshow on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/arealtalkshow/?ref=hyperallergic.com).