Dibyendu Ghosal

(suicide by a young addict in the cocaine-inhabited ‘Minimum city’ Medellin in Colombia’s drug cartel)

Why don’t you listen to me?
I’m wandering through Medellin city, totally
Dumbfounded, and
Perplexed. I’m Rodrigo… Rodrigo Alonso
Is un-employed…,
Condemned to roam. The arteries and
Veins of this city isn’t full of dear
Blood; rather it’s carrying the
Dreaded Cocaine. I’m harrowed…
Just like many … like me, oh dear, Acquiescence… and you live; but
I found it equally easy to end
This ordeal… the ordeal of surviving.
I’m trying to defy the abyss---
From my perch… I shout. Are you
Listening? My arteries and veins are
Extracting to cross, the barrier…
I’m hungry for an ‘identity’, even through death.

This gloom has given me no scope
For compromise.
So, I’m snuffing it out.