Poetry: Aneek Chatterjee (Tagore Special)

Aneek Chatterjee

Nibaran, Amito & Shibnath*

In this summer, Amito Roy proposed:

‘Let’s go to Shillong for a trip.

We plan to take Nibaran Charabarty, the

sensational poet along; you’ll enjoy his new,

radically different verse’.

I felt tempted & when I was about

to agree, Gora rushed in:

‘Dada, people are dying in the pandemic

& you’re sitting idle ? Come with me,

the world needs you’. 

 

When I was eating & sleeping poetry;

when I was living & revelling in

my poetry, Charulata threw her published poem

on my face. I was stunned to discover the talent,

whom I always knew as a pretty home maker. 

 

At the dead of each dark night,

when I face you, Tagore,

thousand lights glow & tell me afresh

about a poet, novelist, short story teller, painter,

singer, nationalist, social thinker & a lot more …  

 

& when night fades into dawn,

my feared school teacher, Shibnath babu,

who has both sting & teeth,

appears with a long stick:

‘you idiot, don’t just stand here;

go & read Tagore, to know

the mystery of life & beyond’.  

 

After about three hours, in the library,

Nibaran Chakrabarty says:

always look for the new, for the fresh,

come out of monotony, see the world.

*All names used in this poem are from novels and stories written by Tagore

 

Bio: Aneek Chatterjee is a poet and academic from Kolkata, India. He has been published in reputed literary magazines and anthologies across the globe. He authored 15 books including three poetry collections and a novel. His third poetry collection “of Ashes and Persiflage” (New Delhi and Kolkata, Hawakal) came out in November, 2020. Chatterjee has a Ph.D. in International Relations; and has been teaching in leading Indian and foreign universities. He was a Fulbright Visiting faculty at the University of Virginia, USA and a recipient of the prestigious ICCR Chair to teach abroad. His poetry has been archived at Yale University. 

---

Tagore Special :: Setu, May 2022