Late-night dance, erratic food,
absinthe and a tongue full wormwood,
“Let’s go to the flat.” she says;
“Let’s be sad.” he auscultates;
jazz dethrones God; the singer hushes a cough.
“Open the door!” Screams knock out silence.
A silhouette in the rental’s corridor watches.
“Open the door.” She shouts to her roommate.
Doors’ moods swing. The drunken head drowns
in the valley of his chest. “Are you practicing sleep?”
“That’s just the art, babe.”
Late night, nothing lasts more than a little more
chinera. Jazz feasts on the hearts. Door sleeps.
Fire alarm panels the corridor. “Everything is C major,
G major, A minor.” His fingers strum the air.
Kushal Poddar
Illustration Nick Victor
Authored ‘The Circus Came To My Island’, ‘A Place For Your Ghost Animals, Understanding The Neighborhood’, ‘Scratches Within’, ‘Kleptomaniac’s Book of Unoriginal Poems’, ‘Eternity Restoration Project- Selected and New Poems’ and now ‘Herding My Thoughts To The Slaughterhouse-A Prequel’ (Alien Buddha Press)