Satya Dash

Elegy for the movement of elegy

arousal          the harbinger of a flood of blood
blood sprinkles on a country’s fresh map          vermillion—

          vermillion           parting desire on a wife’s perceptible head
          head butt to crash a legendary World Cup           dream—

dream           emboldens synonyms into antonyms’ golden teeth
teeth not transmitting from master to apprentice        smiles—

          smiles           an earnest man signing his marriage certificate
          certificate the nature of my clumsy talents          forgettable—

forgettable          first words of manhood clasping a cresting wonder
wonder how you tolerated for so long my gasoline           breath—

          breath           taken away from those who went to schools unblessed
          unblessed light in sooty warehouses crossing out little    cheeks—

cheeks           docile turning right to left found blued indescribable dead
dead clad themselves in shrouds of roses smelled wholesome sad—

          sad          the untainted hurt of fruit ripened swallowed unbitten
          unbitten remains the altar of my tongue’s accomplished lack—

lack          in the shape of grace every vanquished body realized
realized a future mother waist deep in marriage miscarriage—

          miscarriage          a world I sailed past pushed by inconceivable arousal

  

Satya is shown, against blue and grey walls upon which a red firebox and extinguisher are visible. Satya has light brown skin and dark hair—shaved at the sides and longer on top— and a short black beard and mustache. Satya wears rectangular eyeglasses, and a mauve high-collar athletic jacket, unzipped to shown a chartreuse yellow lining and a light colored shirt beneath.

Satya Dash is the recipient of the 2020 Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize. His poems appear in Waxwing, Wildness, Redivider, Passages North, The Boiler, The Florida Review, Prelude, The Cortland Review and The Journal 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 Orison Anthology, Best of the Net and Best New Poets. He grew up in Cuttack, Odisha and now lives in Bangalore. He tweets at: @satya043 

 

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