Poetry: “A body becomes a story” by Satya Dash

                        a boy’s head inscribed on a coin flipped
                       soon takes shape of the torso of the angel
                      who cared about tails so much he ran
                    out of luck on bets against tsunamis and viruses
                 because he fell sick while earnestly trying
              we loved remembering him while sneezing
          when tragedy strikes the possibilities of humility
     grow manifold an orthogonal line of sweat
on the temple cools the boy’s body down
     the green fire he was born with is now a garden
          of strictly afternoon sounds little brambling
              supernovas the boy stomached over years
                 constellations grunting at a daily construction
                    site all sentience is intestinal delight accumulated
                      over seasons bred low by reason in a corner
                       the boy under his bedsheets spurts to groggy life
                        five sevenths of unknown is known his marshes
                       a rorschach print of graying gels when his eyes fall
                      on a bare shoulder he thinks of an ocean then wants
                    to kiss it his throat dries up a pressure builds
                 for an abdominal release this miracle impossible
              to touch while it’s happening like the noiseless sear
          of fever against an underarm tattoo the boy grows
     to love his wetland ghosts they meet him at the holy
spot between two mango trees that speak
     the vernacular of salted summer winds when the boy
          is mugged in broad daylight the thugs find no notes
              in his denim wallet they spit in disgust then rub
                 their palms on his saccharine crotch the murder
                    of pleasure is vengeance for some on the way back
                      the boy eats noodles of light curled from his tears
                       masculinity creamed blue like a rock of butter tongued
                        from a cactus blade the boy pirouettes on floors
                       of jealousy absorbing the difficulties of grace  
                      while ceaselessly slipping the boy
                    is a girl the boy is you the boy loves
                 the lover of the boy he loves the boy
              who is a hue who is no longer me

About Satya Dash

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 Pushcart, Best of the Net and Best New Poets. He grew up in Cuttack and now lives in Bangalore, India. He tweets at: @satya043