It was still dark, the rest of the house still asleep. She made herself a cup of coffee and sat down to write. Blood in a woman’s dream can mean many things, she wrote. It can mean the purging of life from tortured wombs—Kashmir, or Kosovo (Aleppo was still safe, as were Mariupol and Irpin). Or it can mean the beginning of that period of the month. Or that one just needs to wake up and drink some water. As she wrote, the sun rose, quietly licking the windows awake. Then she went back to sleep. In a new dream she felt thirsty, and the water she drank turned to blood in her mouth.

hull breach—
in the briny taste 
untold story 

Eugene Datta

is the author of the poetry collection Water & Wave (Redhawk Publications, 2024) and the story collection The Color of Noon (Serving House Books, 2024). His work has appeared in publications such as Common Ground Review, The Dalhousie Review, Hamilton Stone Review, The Main Street Rag, Mantis, and elsewhere. A recipient of the Stiftung Laurenz-Haus fellowship, he has held residencies at Ledig House International Writers’ Colony, and Fundación Valparaíso. A native of Calcutta, he lives with his wife and two children in Aachen, Germany.

More on the Web: By, About, and Beyond

⚡ Interview with Eugene Datta by Susan Tekulve in South 85 Journal (23 January 2025)