The tight rope walk or how I became a criminal

Out of tune birdsongs
haul me up..
from a downhill sleep.
I’m exhausted from dreaming
of your lying lips
as they repeatedly swear..
that man I had sniffed
in your underwear
was just a friend…
nothing more..
Your eyes are shifty
as you take me in..
I can sense the phobia …
Our lovemaking lamer than
Monday excuses
scribbled with weekend inertia.
The dream is too real
to be a nightmare.
I wake up drained
only to find
dead crowskin
on my sunburnt porch..
Her papery wings
and knife-hard beak
hide the headlines
of the newspaper roll.
Such mornings of nausea..
Of somersaulting truths..
could turn me into
a murderer too..
My mind is hitting the danger zone..
It is about to break parole..
Stay away, will you?

 

“Every Drop” © Sally Deskins

 

Ananya Chatterjee, is a poet and translator from Kolkata, India. She is the author of three collections of poetry.

Sally Deskins is an artist and writer focusing on perspectives of women including her own. She’s been published internationally and exhibited nationally and has curated several exhibitions and books.