What spurs me, in this breathing grave
of coffee mouths and cheeks unshaved,
to stand upon my chair and shout,
“I’m out! I’m out

of this forever-widening coop
where glumness, going on a loop,
entraps, within its strangling mesh,
the mind and flesh?”

I should be sitting by my table
immersed in some sweet ancient fable
or search, within some lyric verse,
joy’s universe.

But here I am—jailed in a row
of coffee mouths and heads that bow
to despots (dressed in cotton coats)
who grab our throats.

*****

Shamik Banerjee writes: “Written in a Cubicle took root in the very cubicle where I spend nine hours a day typing incessantly and passively listening to the heavy buzz of my colleagues. I know that this poem doesn’t carry an optimistic tone, but it is also true that this very cubicle helps me clear my bills. It was just one of those days when I felt like writing it. It was cathartic, I admit.”

‘Written in a Cubicle’ was first published in The Society of Classical Poets.

Shamik Banerjee is a poet from Assam, India. He currently resides in Gurgaon, Haryana. Some of his recent publications include Spelt, Ink Sweat & Tears, St. Austin, San Antonio Review, Sheepshead Review, The Trinity Review, Third Wednesday, and Amethyst Review among others. He secured second position in the Southern Shakespeare Company Sonnet Contest, 2024, and was nominated for the Best of the Net by Flapper Press.

“Outside, looking in” by Ravages is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.