Poetry: Manu Dash

Manu Dash

I want to write a poem

I know the beginning, but
Writing the poem is
Like walking through the night
With stars smelling notorious perfumes.

I know the middle, but
Writing the poem is
Like gathering bricks and mortars
Of metaphors and similes
With memory of a house after a devastating cyclone.

I know the end, but
Writing the poem is
Like pressing the button of an EVM machine
With gen of receiving a fractured mandate.
***

Bahuda

Returning is a ritual.
The river was impatient to
Comeback to the estuary’s lap.
Water returned to the river
From the patio of cloud-drunk moon.

Like other beings
Papa goes back to his elements.

Returning is a ritual.

Where does the estuary,
Moon and Papa’s soul go?
It returns again and again
In the guise of a viral question.

---

About the author
Poet, editor, translator, publisher and curator of the annual Odisha Art & Literature Festival, Manu Dash (1956) has published 25 books in Odia and English including the latest poetry collection ‘A Brief History of Silence’.

He is the founder of Dhauli Books, which won the prestigious "Publishing Next Industry Award for the Best Printed Book of the Year in Indian Languages" in 2018.

He lives in Bhubaneswar in India.

Setu, January 2020