A morphous daylights
B reak between temperatures.
C ould she ever taste the
D iameter of dreams marinated in the kitchen?
E ven her nerves are swollen, with codes, not meals.
F lowered by white noise she waves at the 
G reen burden of equality, it
H eaves and breaks her expanse into millions.
I VF whispers/ the bitter tongue of truth,
J azzed somersaults under corporate noonshine.
K nowledge of follies
L ure her skin, once meant only to be refrigerated.
M uscles replace sweet juices/ and she/ forget/   she
N o/ never/ not/ will not go back to the
O bfuscity/ the publicised halo of innocent galaxies
P oised at her feet. Her flesh ripens between distances,
Q uickened at the loss of movement, she
R owes through streams of salt and turns into a
S tone. They chant laws to dig up her bones —
T here is only one way to hide
U nderneath her nails, the
V erbs she had always slept with. Oh, to
W ash herself cold after days of fever with a man-soap.
X eroxed ambitions of something imagined — alas, only a
Y awn through a tense night, an uncomingZ ibet chewing sound among noiseless zebras.

*Credits: The Pangolin Review, June, 2019. Noise Cancellation, Jhilam Chattaraj, Hawakal Publishers, 2021.