Here, are rains, leftovers,
the old rattle of a dog’s lead.
The inner organs of a battle body
repurposed into foreign tourists’ playgrounds.
Just as shingle mixes with limestone, teeth
of waves carve stalactites on the Volcanic sand.
The wind beats like egg yolk, tumbling
over sea walls and doorways, seeking spaces
small enough to disappear.
Ankita Saxena is the author of Mother | Line, which released in April 2023, with Verve Poetry Press. She read English Literature at Jesus College, Oxford (2014-2017), where she was Head of Events at Oxford University Poetry Society, and President of the Turl Street Arts Festival. She has been commended in the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award three times. She is a Barbican Young Poet alumnus, part of the Octavia Poetry Collective, and one half of the ORIGINS Poetry Duo. Her poetry is published in Wasafiri, Modern Poetry in Translation and Bath Magg. She has performed widely across the UK, including live at Hammersmith Appollo, with The Guilty Feminist.
By day, she works at Social Finance, a not-for-profit social enterprise, helping to tackle complex and enduring issues in society and create lasting and widespread change.
Ankita Saxena 
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