A note about the work "It's safe to say" from Sanjana Bijlani for the Michigan Quarterly Review's Spring 2025 issue: I wrote the first draft of this poem in the morning, a time when I
feel most able to connect with the dreamscape of sleep, the
wistfulness I feel at not being able to stay within it as the day's
routines await. I think I began the poem to try and find language for the experience of missing my beloveds in all their complexity and carrying their histories with me even as each day tasks me to survive its obligations and aggressions. At the heart of the poem is a deep wish, a longing for so much more for us.