Races

by Aishwarya Srivastava

This is not about the color of my skin.

It’s about races
The one with tracks and horses,
the half-blinded ones, the tamed ones
the fixed races
the ones that are always rigged
Like this one, the one you’re running
right now. This second.

You must believe me.
Listen, trust me. Or maybe not
Denial is the strongest poison we’ve got.

I have an appointment right now
the best vet in town.

But do you know what happens to horses
after the race?
They’re shot in the head
chopped up
sold for meat.

Aishwarya Srivastava is a Business Student who moonlights as a poet, short-story writer and literary blogger. Aishwarya’s works appear in Flash Fiction Magazine, LitGleam Literary and Lifestyle Magazine, and her self-published poetry book The Crescent Moon.