by Ananya Sahoo
I.
“Beds are meant to be woken up from,
Not misused as a sanctuary.”
Sunlight slices through my window
till my eyes smart.
My pillow smells like dandelions in a faraway mystical land.
Just five more minutes days weeks.
II.
If I squint my eyes hard enough,
I can squeeze a little serotonin inside my brain.
If I squint harder and clench my fists, I can stop the bad neurons from firing.
(You were right, Ma.
Staying positive is simple.)
Funnily, the scars on my inner thigh
resemble a cross.
III.
Five things you can touch – Sink. Mirror. Faucet. Towel. Water.
Four things you can see – Toothbrush, floss, bar of soap, trashcan.
Three things you can hear – Dripping faucet. Faint chatter of the party outside. A tree branch creaking.
Two things you can smell – Potpourri, Wet Earth.
One thing you can taste – Ashes .
Zero things you can feel.
In. Out. In. Out.
Ananya Sahoo is a 25-year-old change management analyst from India. When she’s not busy being a corporate slave, she enjoys writing, slam poetry, reading, and playing the piano. She worked as Director of Outreach for a national-level student-run NGO that educated the youth about taboo issues like sexual abuse, mental health, etc. She has always been passionate about writing and pens down her thoughts in her personal blog.
Marcos Guinoza is a Brazilian graphic designer and digital artist. His collages are inspired by human feelings like loneliness, melancholy, emotional disturbances, disorientation, and confusion in the face of a seemingly meaningless and increasingly absurd world. He has been influenced by minimalism, Russian suprematism, surrealism, and artists like René Magritte and Edward Hopper, among others.