Bruises on my wrists and ankles
Where you tied me up in shackles
But to my surprise you said
"Baby are you comfortable here in bed?"
I stopped and smiled at your concern
"Yes." I said
Then I did learn



you were right for me

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Cold white marble
Shot through with
Streaks of black
And swirls of
Gray
And cemented firmly into it is
Something
It shines as
It catches the
Light

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You lead me closer
But to what?
You are dragging me
But to where?
I can't ask
My voice-
My voice

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Brown leather
And wooden heels
Scared and old
But beautiful

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Is that
Silver?
Steel?
Iron?
What ever it is
It's sharp

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Scratchy and tan
The bands chafe against my raw skin
And leave scars
They are bound tight
TOO tight
I'm caught,
Utterly caught

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More marble
It's
A table?
No
No
NO

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It's an alter
Placed on this cold floor
An now i'm on it
My back pressed against it and
I think
Why

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There are words leaving
Your dry lips
They sound quick
They sound red
They end sharply
They sound painful

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Your face hangs low
Over mine and it's-
How do I explain?
It's the stars in a forest
Astonishing
You can't believe they exist
There are simply too many,
Too many to be possible
And you wonder how you
Never noticed them before
Never noticed that above you
Those dots
Those specks
Burn hotter than everything
That they burn longer
So much so that we may as well
Be mayfly's
And you are a star
Living longer than me
A star that will burn and
End my li-

Scratch
Scratch
Scratch

Are you
Freeing me?

Scratch
Scratch
Scratch

What-
What are you doing
How did I not see before
It's a knife

Tears
They flow
From my eyes
Or yours
And my thoughts-

End

Tie me up and keep me infused to the chair as vines blueprint walls.
Dangle your threads in front of me and lash me with whips which cut the air like knives....i never minded paying a few tolls.
Laugh hysterically so we can share this sense of humor because we all know karma haunts.
When these ropes which restrain me are cut by the intensity of your lashes i'll be the last one who taunts.

You think you are free?
Free to stand on our own feet.
Dare to cut the ropes.

I don’t speak for everyone,
I can only speak for me.
I don’t want a silly toy to
Make me feel weak at the knee.
I don’t want a handsome savior,
Riding in on a white horse
Just so years later I end up
Sad, fat and divorced.
I want to be myself,
Open and free.
No one on this earth
Who should chain me.
Not outside of privacy of my bedroom.
Can you blame me?

And when the snow falls tonight,
bury me in that grave I dug all these years.
The fire is extinguished
and I can't find anything to warm myself anymore.

All this time I have been sinking,
the ropes have gotten weak,
and I can't hang on no more.

and all these lullabies are calling me to sleep,
all these enchanting voices.

I will let myself fall through this,
just promise, you will bury me with the snow.
                                      
                              - Srabanti Chakrabarty

full of knots
that have tied themselves.
ropes of lies and ideas
crossing over one another.
they tighten every breath
and they become tangled.

why must we try to untie
these cords
that fasten us down
so we don’t float away?

we obsess over detangling
and untying
while we refuse to see
the tapestry
our bodies have made.