12:41

We’re all Achilles in our own minds, living our own Iliad.

Oh, beautiful bird of flight, from where hast thou fallen?

Tender face and bones, this cruel place is nowhere for you to rest, oh no.


12:41 is a collection of poems and short prose pieces that are dark yet luminous at the same time. Each piece seems to be narrated by a different voice, usually of a character in an extreme condition: a man about to kill another, a man moments after he has died, a teen giddy with love or desperate after a break-up, a body hurtling to the ground and regretting stepping off the ledge. Are these different characters, or are they different voices in the same character’s head? Aditya Sen’s writings are mature beyond his years and are marked by their vivid intensity, a keen ear for rhythm and a knack for the unexpected.