Umbilicus

Night is the 

name of the

color that

invites the

ghost of my

fathers.

Slowly they 

crawl, shells

covering the

echoes of

their sinister

chatter. 

The slime of

their tracks, 

written into

my bones...their 

gastropod teeth 

slicing through 

my  mothers' 

eyes.

A hole in my 

belly is all

that remains...

An aching eye

in my navel

flutters to

remind me of

the cords that

they have cut.

Anirban Baishya (November 2nd, 2018)