A Forgery | Prateek Joshi

There is hope only for the dead —
they who have been buried or are willing to burn.

I shape myself with life —
a hungry mantis fighting to keep death away

I hasten within
— the scream of a butterfly —

Prateek Joshi is a medical graduate from University College of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. He moves between words and their impractical aspects only to find himself stranded, placid only when poetry transfigures peculiarities between the pauses of breath. A dash into the obscure favors him, pushing for more into life, apparent and unmistakable. He works in his mushroom-broccoli farm besides losing himself to writing poems. His second book, tentatively titled ‘Arc Asylum’ will release in April this year.