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✨ LATEST ISSUE • From ULR Issue 15 – REFUSE

Sum of Parts

Inside, maps of rot, dead birds, and fruiting cats bloom. This decay asks for space.

July 25, 2026

There remains an orange peel map under my collarbones,
By the time we meet, it will rot into nothing or I will have shed it off.
Outside the airport you will find my fingertips disintegrating and the dust will choke you.

The bird in the tiny nest outside the house has died,
Its numbered days eaten by the broken twig nest.
Look for the nest inside my mouth.
Q
Three cats have died since
And now bloom into trees in the backyard.
And in my enlarged ventricle, you will find their fruit.

All of this will ask for space next to you on the bed tonight.
You still have some time to say no.

📖
PART OF A COLLECTION

Old Dreams of Kolkata and Sum of Parts

View Full Collection →

Apabrita Mitra Sarkar

Apabrita is a PhD researcher at Durham University. She works on South Asian women's writing and conflict studies. She has previously written and published poetry for writingwomen.co. She also works as a translator and is currently translating a volume of her mother's poetry. She now tries to take time out from her PhD to focus on writing poetry more often.

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