salt in an empty sea

you make my chest hurt like salt in an empty sea.

the words climb up my throat but i slam my tongue over them, desperate to keep them down.

i cannot let you hear this.

but still it leaks through my teeth

and makes its way to you.

i don’t want to remember how i thought you made me feel. i urge the memories back into their respective kennels but it doesn’t. work.

the only way to purge myself of them- of you- is this.

is to write.

so i write.

i write what i cannot tell you, what i cannot tell myself, what i cannot tell anyone.

doris lessing, the original hound of heaven that once commandeered the attic, said fiction is the way to memorialize that which never was. my seventeen years have been just that- snowdrift accumulations of that which should’ve been or could’ve been or might’ve been but ultimately. never was.

is it any wonder then, that i write?

this is simply my way of bailing out my sinking ship. of subconsciously telling myself that i, the midnight tremor- i, the golden coin of summer- am only human.

i admit to myself that come spring i will be in love again.

i also admit that i will be wrong about this love.

but as life comes i live it,

and i write it,

and i cherish it:

immortal salt

in the empty sea.

Salt in an Empty Sea

Poetry/Prose: a collection about love and other illnesses

For All Ages

8173 words

Author: Vaidehi Bhardwaj

Vaidehi decided at age twelve that everyone had to share her stomachaches, and has been scribbling in notebooks since then. She is a three-time winner of Reflections, and received an honorary mention in the ARCHER Coalition Contest. She attends the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, with her tortoise, Sheldon--who, just like her, is partial to blueberries, mangos, and milk chocolate. You can find her @devi.jindal on Instagram, or reach out to her via email at vaidehib.001@gmail.com.

I consider myself an outgoing and extroverted person, with strong public-speaking and interpersonal skills. I enjoy playing my viola, reading, baking when the mood strikes me, words, friends, and Words with Friends.

Salt in an Empty Sea would be a wonderful addition to Trident's published works. Although as a book of poetry and prose, it is markedly different than Trident's other works, this only means that the book would provide the opportunity for Trident to expand into a new genre, expanding their audience and submissions.

Salt in an Empty Sea provides a new perspective on love- through the lens of a girl experiencing it and maturing with it. In addition, it does not only examine traditional concepts of romantic love- the book deals with ideas of familial love, love for a home, self-love, and a multitude of other concepts that are often overlooked in traditional "love poetry." Additional references to the intersections of ethnic background and love, as well as love in digital spaces, adds a layer of complexity and nuance to the collected works.