A Debauched Friend | A Poem by Devapreeta Jena

We meet once in eight months

Only to give wings to our narratives

Narratives of degeneracy

Who said decomposing oneself is not part of existing?

Who said conscious perversion is not living?

She breathes in wantonness

I breathe in conscious self-destruction

She consciously plays the victim of a lewd world

In a secret attempt to pull the immoral trigger off her head

I take a dip in moral corruption, to test the grand theories in my head

She takes a swim in debauchery, to debunk the moral burden imposed on a wife

We will again see each other

Only to give wings to our chaotic narratives!

Devapreeta Jena is 23 years old and just completed her masters in Sociology at Ambedkar University, Delhi. Her discipline made her to look at things objectively, therefore most of the times she finds herself analyzing things around her, be it politics, literature or people. But she makes sure that her sanity is also kept intact and she finds poetry the perfect medium to turn the silences, innuendos and subtleties of life into words. Often she struggles with words, because her objective self is always in conflict with her subjective self. She loves reading fiction, contemporary theory and has discovered a newfound interest in psychology. She thinks that poetry can become a platform where one can ask questions of oneself as well as of the whole society. She thinks through poetry one can seek beauty in harsh memories and even the nauseating experience of everyday life. She has currently taken a break from academics and is exploring poems by Rimbaud and Charles Baudelaire.