Spriha Dharan

Let Me Trace Your Heart

Let me trace your heartWith fingers that do not shakeI know your soul is fragileBut I promise it won’t break.Let me see your woundsLay them open and lay them bare…It’s been so long since poetry Has flowed from these lipsLet me share…Show me your ocean eyesAnd if they spiral or shatter like glassI’ll beg youContinue reading “Let Me Trace Your Heart”

Song of 3 Crows Excerpt-

This is an excerpt from a longer story I wrote as part of my senior capstone. I used a hybrid medium of prose, free-verse poetry, and art. I’ve attached 2 poems below: Monsoon.Shiva is dancing. His feet strike the gates of heavenAnd the earth shudders. Fear sizzles through my veinswhen i hear Her cry;in aContinue reading “Song of 3 Crows Excerpt-“

Remember: An excerpt

This is an Excerpt from a story I recently wrote. I appreciate all and any feedback. If you are interested in reading more, let me know because the plot certainly thickens… Remember In the house, there are ghosts. In the house of a body. In the house of a secret. In the house of aContinue reading “Remember: An excerpt”

Loving the Anti-Hero:

I still remember when I read Crime and Punishment for the first time, and discovered newfound empathy for someone who had committed a brutal act, both unacceptable and impermissible by society: murder. Fast forward on year later, and I sat down to watch YOU, a Netflix original series based on Caroline Kepler’s original novel. ItContinue reading “Loving the Anti-Hero:”

The Emperor of Gladness

“Because to remember is to fill the present with the past, which meant that the cost of remembering anything, anything at all, is life itself. We murder ourselves, he thought, by remembering” -Ocean Vuong, The Emperor of Gladness “The hardest thing in the world is to only live once,” Ocean Vuong writes. These opening linesContinue reading “The Emperor of Gladness”

I don’t tell myself ‘I love you…’

I don’t tell myself ‘i love you”I let the sun caramelize my skinI watch the ocean lazily traceAll of the places that I’ve beenI bury my toes in ancient soilLift my head to an indigo skyI am buoyed by the silenceAnd the absence of so-called time.I’ll make myself a picnic:strawberries and a cup of chai;fallContinue reading “I don’t tell myself ‘I love you…’”

Fireflies

I’ve touched God beforeHeld him in my handsA small specimen throbbing with lightWhile suffocated by a blanket of duskA beacon of hopeI’ve seen God kiss the grassWith his lusterAnd muster up a glow so magicalIt permeates the dewey summer airI’ve seen him flickerFade in and out Like stars Even though he’s always thereClose enoughTo beContinue reading “Fireflies”

through the ages…

My six year old selfBelieved in fairiesShe would scavenge in our backyardAnkles caked with mudDigging for earthwormsAnd buried treasureNot knowing the treasure that was staring her right in the face My seven year old self Liked to escapeBetween the binding Of a torn paperback She dog-eared pages With her tiny hands And thought there wasContinue reading “through the ages…”

dear dead butterfly:

I wonder when you learnedthat beauty is immortal Yesterday I saw yousoaring through thepouring rainorange and black wingssoddenLike coffee stainson parchment paperBut today you are nothing But a piece of poetry crumpled by gods fists Lying on the side of the roadWith ants gnawing at your feetDear dead butterfly, Who gave you wings?Who spawned you from your silk-spunContinue reading “dear dead butterfly:”

i’m 17

and there’s a picture above my father’s desk ofa little girlon his back, giddywith joyand smiling ear to ear I’m 17and this is when I start to wonderWhere all the time wentWhen leisurely mid-afternoon walksCatching cottonwood seeds like FairiesTurned into hoursCloistered indoorsAnd growing became somethingUglyI’m 17And people tell me”You don’t need to have it allContinue reading “i’m 17”