Debarshi Mitra

Parallax

I see you now
more clearly than ever.
You shape-shift
at every turn
into a fable
a gesture, a glance.
Now the cold wind
is upon me,
wolf-breath
on my window pane.
Redeem me,
redeem me,
set me free as a hawk
perched up above
swooping down
on its prey.
Set me free as a myth
buried deep
at midnight
knocking on the eyelids.

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Debarshi Mitra’s debut book of poems, Eternal Migrant, was published in 2016 by Writers Workshop. His second book, Osmosis, was published by Hawakal in 2020. His works have previously appeared in anthologies like Kaafiyana, Wifi for Breakfast and Best Indian Poetry 2018 and in journals like The Scarlet Leaf Review, Thumbprint, Guftugu, The Seattle Star, The Pangolin Review, Leaves of Ink, The Sunflower Collective, Coldnoon, Indiana Voice
Journal, The Indian Cultural Forum, among others. He was the recipient of the The Wingword Poetry Prize 2017, the Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize 2017 and was twice longlisted for the TFA Prize.