by Mukund Gnanadesikan

Ode to a Trauma Survivor

As you ascend 

I cannot help but shake my head 

amazed, 

smiling, crying as I remember 

where you came from, 

hiding beneath a table 

pinned into a cobwebbed corner. 

Thinking of the past,  

series of snapshots on the grass. 

Now, in a motion picture, 

You strut across a stage 

stand ramrod straight, 

raise a clenched fist. 

Go ahead, seize what glimmers 

Hold it in a permanent embrace 

Far from starless nights of fearful past 

the light is yours now, captured in your prism. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mukund Gnanadesikan’s poetry and short stories have been published in Adelaide Literary Magazine, Ayaskala, The Bangalore Review, Calliope on the Web, The Cape Rock, Tuck Magazine, Junto Magazine, Meniscus Literary Journal, Blood and Thunder, Poets’ Choice, and Dream Noir, among others. His first novel, Errors of Omission, is due out in fall of 2020 from Adelaide Books. He lives in Napa, CA, where he practices psychiatry.