O:JA&L Poetry: All forms & styles
Ekphrasis
Tushar Sen
THE CREATION OF ADAM BY MICHELANGELO
Click on the title to explore or download Tushar Sen’s new poetry pamphlet THE LABYRINTH: Poems,
available now from O:JA&L’s Buttonhook Press.
The body is already there—
formed, placed,
resting in the slope of earth
as if the ground
still holds its weight.
Nothing is missing
that can be named.
Only this—
a span no measure can close.
He does not rise.
One arm extends,
the wrist slack,
fingers uncommitted—
not reaching,
only available.
Across from him,
motion is gathered
and held.
Not arrival—
but force,
drawn tight
around a single direction.
Figures press within it,
contained like breath
before release.
The hand comes forward—
index fixed,
the rest withdrawn,
as if the charge
must pass through
one point only.
Between them,
air holds—
a thin field
where contact waits
without occurring.
The space does not close.
It carries.
A breath
not yet taken,
a word
not yet shaped,
a life
not yet claimed.
He lies
with the ease of something
that has not begun.
The other does not waver.
Still—
no touch.
As if the instant
must remain open
to remain exact.
The distance stays,
and in it,
the weight of what is given
without being held,
what begins
without crossing,
what exists
because it has not yet
become
About the writer:
TUSHAR SEN is a finance professional who also engages in sustained creative and scholarly writing. He is the author of Pandora’s Box, a collection of short stories available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Audible. In 2020, he wrote and produced the short film Zulfi, which screened internationally and received 22 laurels across film festivals. He recently got selected for LADAKH – closer to the moon Residency Program for writers. His poetry has appeared in The Mathematical Intelligencer (Springer-Nature), The Deronda Review, Sortes, Lekh, Indian Review, Writers Resist, SpecPo Verse, Flora Fiction, New Verse Review, The Gilded Weathervane, Ecological Citizen, Military Review, The Orchards Poetry Journal and Afrocritik.
Image: The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564). Ceiling fresco of the Sistine Chapel. 9’2″ x 18’8″. 1508-1512. Public domain.
OJAL Art Incorporated, publishing since 2017 as OPEN: Journal of Arts & Letters (O:JA&L) and its imprints Buttonhook Press, HOT BUTTON PRESS Contemporary Issues, and HIGH BUTTON PRESS Contemporary Art, supports writers and artists worldwide.
The O:JA&L Free Presses Masters Series
The O:JA&L Free Presses Masters Series (from OPEN: Journal of Arts & Letters) gathers acclaimed writers for concise, downloadable chapbooks that pair fresh work with candid reflections on craft. Each installment—often framed by an interview with an associate editor—opens a window onto how masters of poetry, prose poetry, flash fiction, and related hybrid forms build voice, compression, and surprise. Designed as a reader’s invitation and a writer’s toolbox, the series celebrates literary art that moves fast, cuts deep, and lingers long after the last line.
Click on the titles below to explore or download the free PDF chapbooks.
Prose Poetry and Flash Discourse
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series:
Brian Clements on Prose Poetry
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series:
Mark Budman on Flash Fiction & Nonfiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series:
Ray Gonzalez on Prose Poetry
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Master Series:
Michael Martone on Flash Fiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Master Series:
Roberta Allen on Flash Fiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Master Series:
Peter Conners on Flash Fiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series:
Maxine Chernoff on Prose Poetry
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series:
Pedro Ponce on Flash Fiction
With an Interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series:
Kent Dixon on Flash Fiction & Nonfiction
With an interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series:
Tom Hazuka on Flash Fiction
With an interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
MIixed Forms: Haibun, Haiga, & Tanka Prose
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series:
Roberta Beary on Haibun
With an interview by Associate Editor Pamelyn Casto
Experimental Discourse
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series:
Jim Meirose on Experimental Discourse
With an interview by Associate Editor Warwick Newnham
Poetry: All forms & styles
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series:
Poetry from Bruce McRae
With an Interview by Associate Editor Jeff Streeby
The Buttonhook Press Masters Series:
Poetry from Richard Widerkehr
With an Interview by Associate Editor Jeff Streeby
The Dally Post Press Masters Series:
Rod Miller on Cowboy Poetry
With an Interview by Associate Editor Jeff Streeby
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