I want to be that child again who dreamt landscapes
In my head far richer than the world around me now
And peopled them with fake living things with real
Stories, stories I would tell to my toys, to the walls,
To the blades of grass in my garden, that is how
I enriched my soul before I knew what a soul was.
But that soul is barren, ill, sometimes I feel
That child a myth, who was he? Did he even exist?
I look inwards and see a man sick with worry
About things he can’t control. I look outwards,
In the mirror, at the road, to the sky, and there’s
Nothing but cracks, and nothing beyond the veneer.
All I have are memories of brighter days.
Sameen Shakya’s (He/Him) poems have been published in Alternate Route, Cosmic Daffodil, Hearth and Coffin, Roi Faineant and Thin Veil Press, to name a few. Born and raised in Kathmandu, Nepal, he moved to the USA in 2015 to pursue writing. He earned an Undergraduate Degree in Creative Writing from St Cloud State University and traveled the country for a couple of years to gain a more informal education. He returned to Kathmandu in 2022 and is currently based there.