Sushanth Shyamsundar

‍ ‍

The Body Declines to Clarify

face

unavailable
for your version

mouth

no statement

left hand right hand

keeps its own weather keeps its own weather

shoulder shoulder
closed to you closed to you

the chest keeps

ash without fire
bell without church
water without lake
history folded too small
for your clean tools

cut here? no

cut deeper? no

name it for us? no

ribs

not map not proof
not lesson not yours

unknown unknown unknown
is not the same as empty

waist

narrowing to
one bright refusal

pelvis

why should the harmed
do all the explaining

thigh thigh

carrying carrying
silence silence

knee
after knee

down

body

keeping the answer
from becoming
yours

Sushanth Shyamsundar is an Indian writer and poet based in Chennai. He performs spoken word as Rakshasan and writes across poetry, fiction, horror, comedy, queerness, family, memory, and the strange machinery of everyday life. His work often explores bodies, masks, refusal, tenderness, and the absurd rituals of survival. Instagram: @rak.sha.san Website: rakshasanmedia.com