An unwedded pair of empty soles
seek eternal togetherness:
their loneliness is arctic, deafening.

An abandoned dance floor bears memories
of every shoe that has danced upon it.
From the distance, they look like battle scars.

A broken tangle of prayer beads,
for prayers that do not work anymore,
for a god which does or does not exist.
Have we abandoned the gods
or have they abandoned us?

Beneath a bone bleached sky,
a thousand nets wait to catch
an university of fish.
But all the fish have fled
and the nets only find a sea
in which nothing wants
to live anymore.

…

Priyanka Sacheti is a writer and poet based in Bangalore, India. She grew up in the Sultanate of Oman and previously lived in the United Kingdom and United States. Her literary work has appeared in numerous literary journals such as Barren, Berfrois, Dust Mag Poetry, Common, Parentheses Art, Popshot, The Lunchticket, and Jaggery Lit as well as various anthologies. She’s currently working on a poetry and short story collection. She can be found as @atlasofallthatisee on Instagram and @priyankasacheti on Twitter.