Preeti Vangani is an Indian poet & writer based in San Francisco. She is the author of Mother Tongue Apologize (2019) and Fifty Mothers, forthcoming from River River Books (Feb 2026). Her work has been published in The Georgia Review, Gulf Coast, Prairie Schooner among other places. She has received artist grants from San Francisco Arts Commission and YBCA through which she facilitates poetry workshops rooted in writing grief through joy. She holds an MFA in Writing from University of San Francisco and teaches in their program.
Resident Alien
Hiking up Hill Trail, a red-tailed hawk circles
high above us. Looking for something dead, B. says.
Eat my soul, I scream at the bird. There are several
ways to befriend the foreign: hug the oaks, thumb the poppy,
gush over the French broom, it's 6ft. invasive naughtiness.
When you tire of what’s above, look under, says our guide.
Clusters of chanterelle, milk-thistle bundles and the rough
memory of shaving my pubes last-minute in an office loo
for a San Franciscan date who said about the fake
succulents accenting his every table, Isn't it better?
Who has time for water? Would you give up your citizenship
for this— fingernail moon, owl hoots, silhouettes of pine.
After each long glide, the hawk beats her wings restoring her flight.
No matter how I alight, my shadow is in my way.
