TUSHAR SEN
In the carnivorous bog,
the leaves continued their green labor:
lifting light from water,
returning oxygen
to the animal breathing of earth.
Even the pitcher plants—
veined dark as opened fruit—
kept faith with this exchange.
Carbon for breath.
Breath for wing.
At their lips, nectar gathered
in thin reflective crescents.
The ants arrived first.
Then wasps, drunk
on the sweet chemistry
threaded through the air.
Most fed carefully
and lifted away.
Others descended past the slick throat,
past the downward hairs,
into the rainwater and enzymes
clouded faintly
with the residue of wings.
Nothing in the marsh
moved with cruelty.
The frogs continued calling
from the reeds.
Dragonflies crossed
the black water
like blue sparks skipping wire.
Nearby, sundews glittered low to the ground,
their jeweled filaments trembling
at the slightest touch.
One could mistake them for dew
until the closing began.
And still, each morning,
the plants reopened themselves
to sunlight—
drawing carbon inward,
releasing oxygen outward,
while beneath the green chambers
digestion continued invisibly
through the peat-dark hours.
At dusk, the flytraps sealed themselves
against the cooling air.
The marsh exhaled
into the dark.
Tushar Sen is a writer and researcher working across poetry, fiction, film, mathematics, and the sciences. He is the author of Pandora’s Box, a collection of short stories, and wrote and produced the short film Zulfi, which screened internationally and received 22 laurels across 22 film festivals. His research has appeared in the Romanian Astronomical Journal, HRC Journal of Economy & Finance, JDMDH (France). His poetry has appeared in The Mathematical Intelligencer (Springer Nature), MENACE, Muse India, The Orchards Poetry Journal, The Deronda Review, Flora Fiction, New Verse Review, Writers Resist, Ecological Citizen, Varnish, Afrocritik, The Road Not Taken, Sortes, Lekh, Indian Review, 4LPH4NUM3R1C, SpecPo Verse, Infocalypse Arts & Literary Magazine, Open: Journal of Arts & Letters, The Gilded Weathervane, Quill of the Goddess, Twisted River Review, EgoPHobia, Well Read Mag, and Rivenery Literary and Military Review.
Author Index: Tushar Sen
Twisted River Review ~ Issue 1: Winter 26/27