The Student Apartment
Mixed Media
Image Size: 11" by 9.236"


THE ROOM AND THE FORTRESS

Initially I resolved that I would sleep here regardless of the fact that sleep no longer came to me even in the worst spells of exhaustion. I convinced myself that I would lie still and snuggle the blankets and be comfortable in this bed. The long hours of the night test my resolve as the ghouls of isolation chip away at my skull with increasing tenacity. I am ravenous for change but deep down I know that this enclosure, my little fortress of pillows and sheets, will metamorphose into a private shelter from the treacherous summons of the outside world.

I still hold within me, a scepter of deviance that has become both my black plague and life-giving stimulant. I want more in life, I do not want to settle for being forcibly comfortable. There has to be more, I tell myself. I acknowledge the fragments of longing in my consciousness but I impose a hierarchy of priorities upon myself; the need to be functional and disciplined trumps this abstract need to be freed from this prison. Extravagant urges of escapism and hedonism tempt me, as I continually struggle to not be lead astray. I bank on my patience and wisdom and within these walls I have built my citadel of absolute control.

It is my choice to not become recalcitrant and obsolete, even as I dwell in the permafrost of grotesque error that this world sometimes seems to be. Instead, I seek to make every ground my fortress, reigning over every impediment like a mighty, sovereign warrior-emperor who knows nothing other than a glorious victory.

Name: Saiq'a S. Chowdhury
Date of Birth: 31st March 1988