where the air never warms
by Anushka Sharma

i’ve been to where life guards the wrath deep inside,
collecting ashes in the pit of your stomach,
floating lifelessly after absorbing all of it
from the deepest walls of love - never fading,
only gathering with the slightest itch
you can’t control because you’re not you.

the underbelly of your ribs protects something
more painful than shame, a bruise pressed hard
to feel alive in a room where the air never warms,
lingering in your throat, a slow, suffocating tra(m)p
none can touch, least of all you -

an unmade unfortunate child of heartbreak
where the water still drips, burning the cracks,
an unhinged jaw opening, cracking at every mistake of others.

you cannot help it -
you cannot help but internalise.

Anushka Sharma loves reading and writing poetry and writes in every second she can spare.