Poetry: Utpal Chakraborty

Utpal Chakraborty
1. Resurrection

Scripts, however, designed drip a
familiar clue for forensic test.

Drongos and black roses, scared, fly away.
Even the brown son of God is painted in golden hue.
The boy of Gambia like Dalits of everywhere
get framed as Tobys. What will happen if
the real statue of liberty from the Tamarisk glade
returns through the graves and the seas?
What if the man of colour after suppressing
Kaliya is ensconced on your whitened throne?
 What if tremor hits your bragging right at 8.46 Richter scale?
Your legs are on the hay- live all around.
Mangers don't resurrect.
***


2. When Reality Hits

Each December with a sniff of festivity within,
I land on a mountaintop.
Mustard fields doodle on sun seeped hues.
Salty figurines wade through the meandering
threads dwindling away.
Hand made bamboo textures
snare in the messed water.
No blizzards tantalize here.
The sun does not debilitate.
All that I guess multiplies pigments.
Skilled in gymnastics I eschew
the viper pits, charming
my way to victory. The angelic
draperies show up.

Here there are no other strings
attached to the rungs of the ladders.
No overtones of the snakes
except that they gulp you
down the tube to those helicopter days.

As the dice now rolls down the tunnel 
I see a shocked world
standing still over an array of live coffins.
I am to begin from the tail now. Steep sloppy ladder
has nosedived into the dusty lows of life.
A practical game needs all the nuances of the ladder well-defined.
***


3. Blighted strings

To the right of Jesus,
Thomas stands in profile.
His finger pointing up in
the air sparks off a 
speculation in a  Bible story.
Thomas doubts and confirms
the eyes, resurrected.
Magdalenes are always
veiled for anointing the feet.
Film buffs still seek after
the gender in trust and belief.
***


4. Celebration

Baubles, tinsels and colored
strings favour the angels.

Summer Solstice reflects
on the mangers.

Hollies, firs and Tamarisks
knit the missing angles.
***


Utpal Chakraborty: A teacher of English literature, translator, writer, critic and a bilingual poet Utpal Chakraborty is a regular contributor to leading Bengali and English magazines. Chakraborty's Uranta Dolphin, an acclaimed collection of fifty-five Bengali poems was published by Signet Press in 2018. He has translated Bitan Chakraborty's critically acclaimed collection of Bengali short stories, under the title The Mark (Shambhabi Imprint, 2020). His book of English poetry @kirigami recently published by Hawakal has had rave reviews by reputed poets and critics. Utpal Chakraborty has received Panorama Global Literary Award 2020 from Indus Scrolls in association with Writers Capital International Foundation.

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