Down the Line by Ananya Sarkar

Down the line
You said no
For reasons
Present all along
My age, community
Why I could never please
Those who mattered to you
Reasons present from the beginning
Yet you said no
Only down the line
And I went back
To a world where
We never met
Where you wouldn't have to choose
And I wouldn't have to see you choose...  

About the Poet:

Ananya Sarkar is a short story writer, book reviewer and poet of sorts from Kolkata. 
Her work has been published in The Times of India, Muse India, Woman’s Era, New Woman, 4indianwoman, Children’s World, KidsWorldFun, Induswomanwriting, Conversations Across Borders, Indian Ruminations, Earthen Lamp Journal, Spark, The Madras Mag, Teesta Review and Borderless Journal. She won the first prize in both the Story Writing Contest by the American Library, Kolkata as part of the Fiction Festival 2008; and Induswomanwriting Poetry Contest, 2012. She was also a prize winner in the LoudReview Review Writing Competition, 2012 and Writers’ HQ Story Competition, 2016. She was longlisted for the Wordweavers Flash Fiction Competition 2014 and the Wordweavers Short Fiction Competition 2015. Ananya has also interviewed writers C Y Gopinath, Swapna Dutta, Kavita Kane and Richa Wahi, and accessibility consultant Shivani Gupta. Ananya has conducted poetry and story sessions at Lampshade Writers and Kahini, respectively.

Apart from reading and writing, she loves to go for long walks, stargaze and imagine the seemingly impossible. She can be found at @just_1ananya in Instagram and ananya7891@gmail.com via mail.