sen, miThu;
bAsmatI sharIr bA gAn 1995-2005
nAndImukh saMsad [নান্দীমুখ সংসদ], kolkata 2007
topics: | poetry | bengali
This is an unusual collation in five mini books. The opening book,
"stairs or song?" is a set of playful poems, that employ typography
and mis-spelling:
stair
stair
stair
stair
stair
stair
stair
stair
stair
stair
stair
stair
stair
stair
fall
Possibly the most interesting book is the second - "uThon bAgAn" (courtyard
and garden) - a set of very short poems (mostly two liners), each on a
separate page - which can be seen as a connected narrative, telling the story
of a romantic coupling.
what you have touched, i haven't
may i touch you now? 27
in trying to meet your gaze
i have burnt you up 28
it's just your hand you'd kept in mine
there was nothing in it! 30
so what? it was just one rainy night
i spent together 31
you -
i'll see to you in bed! 36
blisters on my palms, sore on the back, all limbs crumpled
and yet on the double-bed my husband is a fearsome four-armed god 37
well then, you lie in your lonely bonely room
i too lie fevered in wordless smoke
only our distance is immortal today! 38
and then
past midnight
the body trem-
bles 39
vagina-pockmarked indra
you have come undone 41
[myth: indra was cursed to have vagina pockmarks after making love
to the wife of a sage]
fire, on the tongue, blisters only
that's why fire, you're so lonely 42
o my darling fence,
how many times
will i jump over you? 48
he who loves me
let him rip out a railroad for me
all night let him play a trainsound tune 52
the fire burns in both houses
i bring dry leaves, fuel
you the flint-flash
this house we had built up
ah - what lovely coloured flames 60
and now the ashes
and again the lifelong
wait 66
such an impossible heat
better it goes off
such an impossible light
just before blowing it out
let it flicker up once more 68
all these lights
who turned off the streets? 69