The chili plant

This is a bizarre sequence, but it's exactly how it happened, dream and all. Last week, my uncle gave my father a potted bird's eye chili plant which he has since placed in my balcony.

My late grandfather named me Jasmin because in Islamic culture, the jasmine is the "flower of heaven." I guess the chili would then be an allusion to "fire," and my father's happiness at its growth an affirmation of his naiveté.

i dreamt of my namesake,
a cluster of jasmines crushed in my palm
the consignment of paradise my grandfather
had willed for me at birth
i awoke to east new york fog
breathing on my glass doors, beyond
which my father had placed a lone
chili plant on the concrete

he watered it often and marveled
at how quickly its buds came aflame