Bio
Preeti Shah works in the healthcare field and volunteers to assist the underserved. Her work has appeared in Dash Literary Journal, The Fictional Café, The American Aesthetic, YJPerspectives and elsewhere. She received her B.A. in Fine Arts specializing in Music from Rider University and enjoys songwriting. She resides in Queens, NY.
Trigger Warning
grief finds
its mouth
in dark walls
it chokes
on nails and chalk
a palette of peel i n g paint
dried wet wooden breath
that only I can hear
wailing
I bang my cheekbones
to bruise a room blue
to see
another color
white
pearls
shower
from
gums
while lips tighten like oysters
from being pried open
by night
a room is now repurposed
a chessboard
checkered
of teeth
and past memories
my dead Father is the
b
r o
k e
n
pieces in a losing game
death’s hand wins again
kings versus pawns