September 2023 – Page 13 – elancharan gunasekaran

phantoms of dusk swinging from the tentacles of the banyan tree

your scent fades away like a wraith in the humid air of this summer night

bitten a dance of blood and iron on pale lips

death on sidewalk people passing by doomscrolling through life

the dream bleeds into reality i can almost taste the salt in sea winds

i’ve been here before on this rocky coast surveying the depths of dark waters

dusk under the hot shower wounds of the soul cauterized

sawdust and dreams of the void the barrenness of this day

the first few days of september and there is nothing left to feel of summer

and within the symbiotic network of lichen a place for the human consciousness