Chanteuse by Mukund Gnanadesikan

She has a teardrop voice

Sticky like August dusk

Leaving syrupy remnants,

It cleanses every layer

Invisible, her touch, it grasps me from afar

Delicate, a small child begging

Imploring ebon eyes

Requesting one last candy, please

After the song’s final measure,

Her vibrato breaks, the melody is over.

In the background, over the cicadas’ chirp

Molasses echoes linger in my ears.

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Mukund Gnanadesikan’s poems and short fiction have been published in literary magazines spanning five continents. Most recently, his work appears in The Fib Review, POETiCA Review, The Hellebre Review, and Cordite Poetry Review’s “Brownface” issue. His debut novel, Errors of Omission, was released in November 2020 by Adelaide Books. When not writing, he practices psychiatry in Napa, California. twitter: @mukundgnanades1