George Biswas State of Mind
 |
| Sekhar Banerjee |
Chhatim
trees have whorls of seven leaves
One each for a thought -
passion, love, forgetfulness,
insecurity, death
childhood and a profound sorrow
to live this life
Every day I pluck a chhatim twig to know
what is hidden in the leaves
for me
and I stand near a gate in my mind
thinking of his weathered face, flowing beard- white
and a forgiving smile
His face changes every day to some extent,
like the earth on a titled axis
I know he is still cultivating time
on his old bearded face
Summer, winter, spring and the rest
I wait till midday
and return to my chores for the day
I wake up early next morning
with a George Biswas state of mind
thinking about this mysterious bearded man
with stashes of still stabbing poetry
and a cosmopolitan taste
I collect a chhatim twig again
and stand silently near the gate
Chhatim: Blackboard tree/ Saptaparni
One each for a thought -
passion, love, forgetfulness,
insecurity, death
childhood and a profound sorrow
to live this life
Every day I pluck a chhatim twig to know
what is hidden in the leaves
for me
and I stand near a gate in my mind
thinking of his weathered face, flowing beard- white
and a forgiving smile
His face changes every day to some extent,
like the earth on a titled axis
I know he is still cultivating time
on his old bearded face
Summer, winter, spring and the rest
I wait till midday
and return to my chores for the day
I wake up early next morning
with a George Biswas state of mind
thinking about this mysterious bearded man
with stashes of still stabbing poetry
and a cosmopolitan taste
I collect a chhatim twig again
and stand silently near the gate
Chhatim: Blackboard tree/ Saptaparni
Bio:
Sekhar Banerjee is a Pushcart Award nominated poet for
2021. He has
been published in literary magazines across the globe. The Fern-gatherers’ Association (Red River, 2021) is his latest
collection of poems. He worked as Member-Secretary of
the Sesquicentennial Birth
Anniversary Edition of Tagore Collections published by the Government of West
Bengal. He has recently co-edited The Brown
Critique’s ‘Home’ anthology. He is a former Secretary of Paschimbanga
Bangla Akademi under the Government of West Bengal. He hails from Jalpaiguri —
an old tea town in the sub-Himalayan West Bengal. He lives in Kolkata.
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