Offering- Aakriti Kuntal

Give me swollen hands

Brandished, perforated, silver leek of rum

My mouth is a tangy trench

it yearns for terrible things

.

Place slender bones

beneath my tongue

Let me study their dents

where the earth burned and the meteor rejoiced

between saliva and epidermal forests

Skin hanging between teeth

truth like octopus on water trees

flesh inside flesh, color flossing cloth jaws

Give me arms, that take worms like love,

that have entered the soil, its bloody wrath, its desolate entirety,

where men sleep forever, no different from lamb peel

rubber veins that have cuddled death and fallen stars,

their mass graves inside stem cells

Give me the parabolic breath of an awakened thumb,

fingers that nibble and immerse in films of milk,

outstretched and clawing, with pink flesh like powder,

where God served judgment too early,

Give me tiny deaths in my mouth,

I will lick them all

as my cheekbones slope like cement sinks

under the weight of dribbling water

Give me the color of falling light

Let me wear it on my face

the absoluteness of truth

prismatic lights, shadows and rim

Let me wear violet to red under this bleeding nose

Maybe then, you can see

The truth

that so aches to be seen

Poem and photograph by Aakriti Kuntal

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Aakriti, aged 25, is a poetess from India. She writes because for her it is the most beautiful way to endure life. Aakriti writes for the Writings of Aakriti Kuntal, and her work has been published in 1947 Literary Journal, Duane’s PoeTree blog, Tuck Magazine and Indian Periodical among others. She won the Reuel International Prize 2017 for upcoming poet.