To walk on hot tar

skip the sidewalk  

don’t feel like  

stepping in shit  

today 

chance my life  

on a busy road 

in Mumbai 

mount  

and dismount 

red dragons 

at sweat speed 

destroy  

carefully curated cuticles 

and keratin 

to feel alive 

to graze 

the city’s pulse 

to smell the orange sky 

that hums over 

busy numb heads.

Karen is an Indian scientist and aspiring writer living in Germany. She has a PhD in cell biology and uses the instagram handle @doodlinscientist to share her digital art documenting the highs and lows of experiment and discovery. Her poems explore themes of childhood, anxiety, faith and most recently—motherhood. She obtained her first publication in Nightshade Lit Mag.