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From ULR
Issue 9 – Violence
Lemonade
Beneath city lights, a shared drink sparks a woman's defiant flight from a predatory encounter
June 15, 2023
Pour cold water. Two spoons of sugar.
A pinch of black salt.
Add ice-cubes and a sprig of mint.]
The lemonade sweats on the table.
Your eyes are fixed on mine. Below us,
the city heaves with its night-time traffic.
The thunder of trains with commuters
Leaning out from the open doorways
hanging on to their lives.
You tip the vodka in, daring me to
take a sip. The key remains on the table.
Room 501. A waiter sidles past, his sleazy eyes
run all over me. I look at my watch and
follow the trails of condensation slinking
down the glass.
Slowly, I reach for the lemonade, you smile
in encouragement. But ‘accidentally’
I knock the glass over.
All over your shirt.
All over the keys.
All over your smile.
I grab my bag and run. The train
thunders past with its night-time crowd.
This time, I am hanging from the door,
Hanging on to my life.
Hanging you out to dry.
I will never drink lemonade again.
📖
PART OF A COLLECTIONLemonade and 2 other poems
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Susmita Bhattacharya
Susmita Bhattacharya is an Indian-born writer. Her debut novel, The Normal State of Mind (Parthian, 2015), was long listed at the 2018 Mumbai Film Festival. Her short story collection, Table Manners (Dahlia Publishing, 2018), won the 2019 Saboteur Award for Best Short Story Collection and was featured on BBC Radio 4 Extra. Her poems have been featured on Mechanic’s Institute Review, Janus Literary Journal, No News Poetry Anthology etc. She is a creative writing lecturer in the UK.