By Annwesa Abhipsa Pani
ALIVE
Some mornings,
the air feels rehearsed.
The sun rises on cue.
Even my breath sounds like someone else’s prayer.
I want something less tidy —
a god with a scar,
a truth with bad grammar.
What is this ache that won’t name itself?
It hums under the skin,
a small rebellion against stillness.
I’ve tried silence.
It behaves well until it starts to echo.
I’ve tried love.
It arrives barefoot,
then asks for shoes.
Still, something in me keeps choosing
the risk of aliveness —
the heartbreak,
the astonishment,
the tremor in the voice
that says nothing,
but means everything.
Maybe that’s enough —
this pulse that refuses to explain
why it’s still pulsing.
Annwesa Abhipsa Pani is a poet, a Senior Manager in Organisation and People development and a student of English Literature based in Pune. Her work explores silence, belonging, and the delicate negotiations between inner and outer worlds. Her poems often linger at the intersections of tenderness and restraint, drawing from everyday moments to uncover quiet revelations.
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