The water of life streamed
Through the broken roadside tap
The sun burned like a death-fire
On bodies, bloodless and charred .
The white cloth clung to flesh
Laying bare embers of lost hopes
Unceasing the water flowed
Onto the soap-lathered bodies
And thence into the foul gutter
If only time went reverse
These ebony bodies would love
To swim back to the safety
Of that primeval [...]
Archive for June, 2004
27 Jun
The roadside bathers of Kolkata
25 Jun
My father
Invisible is his presence
Ethereal,not unpalpable
On dark nights he acquires
The luminosity of an astral body
At Gaya the waters reflected him
As did the leaves of the pipal tree
I tried the Zen and thought-waves
He smiled through the clouds
The cloud’s shapes were
Mysterious and friendly .
Cant you see him there
In the morning , when the sky
Is bare of the white [...]
20 Jun
Knowledge is power
Yesterday evening, as on all evenings,
The banyan briefly dallied with the river
Its tiny red fruits floated on the waters
Glistening in the sun like rubies
The woman-bather, busy disentangling
Flickering stars of pieces of driftwood
From her floating amavasya-like hair
Took no notice of the fruity overtures.
The last ferry did not bring him
Nor did the five ‘o clock circular train
Which [...]
20 Jun
A boat trip on the Ganges in Calcutta
At nightfall the pretty Ganges wore
A black sequinned satin dress and
A splendid necklace studded with
Luminous images of candle-like lights on the bridge
The flickering flame of the lantern in the boat
Refused to dance to the passing wind’s death-tune
Near the jetty stood a steel-and-wood monstrosity
Brooding over its unillumined loneliness
And its cavernous stomach ached with
The darkest secrets of [...]
20 Jun
Love
Flesh on flesh
Bone on bone
Eyes go astray
He that spoke
Also unspoke
The mornings
Presage grey
The evenings
Live up to them
Monochromatic
Experiences
As always.
20 Jun
The ageing film star
Then was different
Of different hue
And music.
Her eyes spoke
Of liquid love
Her leathery skin
A graveyard
Of skin-memories.
There are holes
Where were pools
Sadness unbecame
Then differently,
Now making way
For deadness
Through flakes
Of make-up .
Her eyelashes
Flutter like
A bat’s wings
Embers of selfness
Still smoulder.
Unreturned love
Yet another cover
For bruised ego.
20 Jun
Midday in Midnapore
The day sizzled as though
The Gods were angry
In the evening the sky opened
In electric anger hurling
Torrents of water through
Our hotel room windows
The windows were fragile
And too full of gaping holes
Alone , in the hotel room,
I thought a thousand things
The day’s vacuous bits , inane images
An old heritage building
Overrun with wild vegetation
Can I have a replay [...]
20 Jun
The River of Desire
On the banks of the River of Desire
The abodes of our Gods are empty
The Gods deserted our village long ago
Leaving behind all the sanctums
That crumbled through the ages
Their broken walls yielded fine bricks
For the masonry of our village homes.
The River meandered around our village
Threatening to swallow our temples
Our children have hunger in their eyes
We have [...]
20 Jun
The Bankura Horses
In Bishnupur our horses do not fly
Like the horses in the Sun-God’s chariot
Their long decorated necks look pretty
But break soon and dissolve into the earth
Our divine Mother’s head broke in splinters ,
In her father’s uninvited house .
Our crumbling terra cotta temples are Godless
Our temple ponds are now washermen’s ghats
Our gods no longer adorn the Dance [...]
20 Jun
Through the keyhole
The key would not turn
I can see through the keyhole
A shadow playing on the wall
The shadow moves towards another
Until they both become one
Playing the same music
Of life and death
Of death-in-life.
