letter to pluto
in a parallel life, you were a dog
in technicolor/ with meals & a kid
to play ball with/ a family to mourn
your death/ but here, you’re a change-
ling child- misplaced, scrawny, too cold
for a normal country fireplace to warm
your barren heart/ they took you in
for a while/ when big brother neptune
took you to that star-spangled city/
your face was an ellipse, in gleeful
orbit/ once sister saturn needed a moon
for a school project & you’d have
happily volunteered/ but they threw
you out, even when it was blue-eyed
earth who was the odd one out/ now
you play with rock & stone, let darkness
grow on your prickly skin/ you were
always small enough to be squeezed
into the luggage & passed off
as contraband-
Archita Mittra is a writer, artist and creator from Calcutta, India with a love for all things gothic, vintage and darkly fantastical. You can read more of her work on architamittra.wordpress.com or follow her on Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr at @architamittra.