of graffiti painted over
corn on coal
a union forged at the tips,
A resting place
for those disobedient wordsmiths, wording
a forever engraved fleshwound
bought at the cost of tracing invisible paint,
chasing concrete walls with bare skin;
Not:
fingers chipping away on their own,
But permitted:
to be pecked away in disregard
for the pain, for a cause.
Friction-bites from a voice
at odds with the concrete;
Friction bites-back both sides
And when the finger is gone,
under the new plaster,
you can still read the writing on the wall;
A glittering menace,
blinding mirror up in the face,
Cost to state infractions calculated
and paid in exchange for onset of a social phenomena,
of public conjecture on morality of paint, of the wall;
of realization and commentary, of
somebody’s fool's errand, someone's life purpose
of denial or acquiescence
of the pain and its cause.
Child in the arms.
Ritiksha Sharma is a poet from India and feels that writing offers an irresistible companionship. She completed her master's in History from the University of Delhi, India in 2020. Her work has appeared in Anti-Heroin Chic, Indian Review, The Drabble and Indian Periodical. She is known to be a stickler for the sound of sharp piano notes, noir, B/W photographs, ink pens, banoffee pie and the smell of old books.