Probal Basak, 31, from India, started his
career as a journalist working with Press Trust of India, Business Standard covering
mostly socio-political issues. Currently employed as an officer with Department
of Information & Cultural Affairs, Government of West Bengal, he writes
poetry and his recent works have been published in journals like Dissident
Voice, New Verse News, Spillwords, Setu.
A
Dead Kingdom
She
was dead before they noticed she was dying.
They
brought a defibrillator –
cannons
of water to sprinkle and tear gas to breathe.
They
operated, defibrillator kept changing hands
between the who’s who.
Like
a solitary guardrail trying to stop a coup.
At
funeral there was no one mourning, only fiery slogans
grieving the market crash –
slogans to put up barbed fencing securing their hatred.
They gathered, screamed – everything at royal behest
that
protest can’t undo.
Like a forsaken bandage that blood oozed through.
Stateless
She
is a careless scribbling on the map
but
she refuses to accept it.
Not
when the lung starts to squeeze
and
they stamp on the wings
that
silently gets clipped.
Not
when the idle wheel on flag runs away
to
ferry forgotten stateless tears
that
touches no cheeks.
Not
when tired legs of barbed fence
long
for a leisure walk locking fingers
that
no one holds.
She
is a careless scribbling and
she
refuses to accept it.
When
someone tries to erase the lines
she
summons the night owls
and
they lock her in the cage.
Shelling
Busy
fingers of a rough hand making the sound of silence
slip
into familiar groove to pry them open with patience,
I
see the green peas, losing their weak pod shell defence,
are
kept in the frying pot amid odour of burning incense.
More
and more hands, more and more fingers join to shell
And
there, a hidden pea moth, for whom they were on trail,
Gets
plucked. Alas, the addicted fingers can’t see, can’t smell,
I
see the worm taking all the green peas along to the hell.
Voices Within-2020 :: Setu, February 2020
No comments :
Post a Comment
We welcome your comments related to the article and the topic being discussed. We expect the comments to be courteous, and respectful of the author and other commenters. Setu reserves the right to moderate, remove or reject comments that contain foul language, insult, hatred, personal information or indicate bad intention. The views expressed in comments reflect those of the commenter, not the official views of the Setu editorial board. рдк्рд░рдХाрд╢िрдд рд░рдЪрдиा рд╕े рд╕рдо्рдмंрдзिрдд рд╢ाрд▓ीрди рд╕рдо्рд╡ाрдж рдХा рд╕्рд╡ाрдЧрдд рд╣ै।