Exchange, Cusp, and Delhi

Exchange

Friends jibe at my
music consumption
in inscrutable tongues;
I invoke their porn parity.

Cusp

Dayspring turns the most
unlovable towns endearing
as pompous players ply
outside designated niches.

Paucity wakes up for want;
privilege thrives at convenience.

Delhi

Each stop
a ceasefire
before the next battle.

Ankit Raj Ojha is a poet, assistant professor of English, former software engineer and former rock band frontman from Chapra, Bihar, India. He has a PhD from IIT Roorkee, works with the Department of Higher Education, Haryana, and is editor at The Hooghly Review. Ankit’s writings are published/forthcoming in eleven countries including venues such as Poetry Wales, Routledge, Johns Hopkins University Press, Indian Literature (Sahitya Akademi), Outlook India, Stanchion, Roi Fainéant Press, Native Skin, Briefly Write, The Bayou Review, The Dillydoun Review, The Broadkill Review, and Dreich among others. He is the author of Pinpricks (Hawakal, 2022) and winner of the Briefly Think Essay Prize 2023.