Poetry by Satya Dash

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no heap * the arrangement makes no sense * a random sequence as unverifiable godlessness * an explosion landing on the roof * rungs of groaning decibel put to shame * what could be an atomic orgasm * so full of division * the ceiling quivers like a hot drumhead * bodies alerted become bodies fluid * blood taps crystal * water trinkets mineral * one curled body yawns open asking another * is this the way to supply wonder * the absence of answer drills a mouth sized hole in the wall * through it a sound enters faster than light * the physics of diagonal bodies * entangled shadows knocking on ribs * the only thing separating * observer from voyeur is stimulation * the bodies sweat like roots gnarled in steam * heads resisting heads like leaders of opposing parties * legs lunging one second * evading the next as if in a garden of football tackles * some dream about firsts * a teal tinted car * cottage by the sea * some plan * graduation with distinction * a pay raise * sloppy kisses * some wrangle * learning to love the endurance of dysfunctionalities * sitting at a wooden dining table * craving a better finish * at dinner wanting the rice softer * curry spicier * still others who don’t want bone to hold firm * or share any wisp of breath * they lick off elbows clean * munch hyacinth * clutch vine * crawl despite pain on vertical planes * no pair of eyes can hiss at another * if they try * a new pair squelches right out of the wall * just when the gorgeous comet I ride dies a gaseous death * I always arrive a few minutes late * to establish an implicit importance * greeted with the smell of soaked adrenaline * the velocity of perspiration behind fuzzy ears * globes of lobe fermenting worlds of stalactite wax * in the room below the dead cheer like underground carrots * chanting prehistoric verse * I can push my finger through the hole in the wall * somebody gregarious might grab * then pull out a torrent of undercooked flesh * there is no way I can stop watching these bodies * they are all mine

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Satya Dash is the recipient of the 2020 Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize. His poems appear in  The Boiler, Anomaly, Chestnut Review, Rhino Poetry, Cincinnati Review, and Diagram, among others. Apart from having a degree in electronics from BITS Pilani-Goa, he has been a cricket commentator too. He has been nominated previously for Pushcart, Best of the Net and Best New Poets. He grew up in Cuttack and now lives in Bangalore, India. He tweets at: @satya043

Photo by Lujia Zhang on Unsplash