On fragile mattresses, a third

of the world’s skulls

hallucinate. Eyes,

isotopic

 

pools where hours sink

to multiply years. Curious leeches

watch us erupt in suspended

dawn, the sun deep-fried

 

in saturated fog. Waxing oscine

beaks flutter across pale

curtains wailing to recover

extinct bird-

 

song. As lightning whets

gooey heads into the stony

nous of hail, sweet lava leaks

under my corroded heels. Deep

 

inside a nuclear power

plant ooze crackling sienna

streams exhausting an underground

sea. The waves rock empty cradles.

 

 

Satya Dash‘s poems have been published or are forthcoming in Waxwing, Wildness, Redivider, Passages North, Cosmonauts Avenue, The Florida Review, Hobart, The Cortland Review and Poetry@Sangam among others. Apart from having a degree in electronics from BITS Pilani-Goa, he has been a cricket commentator too. He is a two-time Orison Anthology and Best New Poets nominee. He spent his early years in Odisha and now lives in Bangalore, India. He tweets at: @satya043