I cannot speak
anymore the language
of my oppressors.
My memory gradually
corroded by a billion ants
folds into itself.
I cannot think anymore,
my eyes are vacant,
perpetually wandering.
I’m defenceless as ever,
I put my papers in place
and patiently await my turn
at the guillotine
for them to press the button,
for them to cut off my head
and then in the 9 PM show
for them to bend over
just to examine it’s constituents.
Bio : Debarshi Mitra is a 24 year old poet from New Delhi, India . His debut book of poems ‘ Eternal Migrant’ was published in May 2016 by Writers Workshop. His works have previously appeared in anthologies like ‘Kaafiyana’, ‘Wifi for Breakfast’ and ‘Best Indian Poetry 2018’ and to poetry journals like ‘The Scarlet Leaf Review’ , ’Thumbprint’, ‘The Punch Magazine’ , ‘The Seattle Star’ ,’The Pangolin Review’, ‘Leaves of Ink’, ‘The Sunflower Collective’, ‘Coldnoon’ ,‘Indiana Voice Journal’, ‘The Indian Cultural forum’ among various others. He was the recipient of the The Wingword Poetry Prize 2017 ,the Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize and was long listed for the TFA Prize 2019.
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