Dhee Sankar
What
a pretty green house!
Fresh-hued,
just like you
But
inside, it’s all red. Sombre
Dark
red and black, and on the walls
Mirrors
as large as your heart.
You
came here to taste each other.
My
dazed gaze roves from table to table
Imagining
you in each of them.
Which
seats have you sat in, what did
You
talk about, for so long, so many
Years,
so many hours? —No, let it be.
Could
he make you laugh much better
Than
I? But he also made you less you.
A
smiling face, and a downcast face —
That’s
all I see, on every table.
Both
faces are yours.
When
the food arrives, I sit stunned, stung
By
all the tastes you had between you:
Spicy
desire, tangy tension, sour politics,
The
snazzy lovers’ miff of Seven-Up.
How
hot exactly did they make the food?
Soft
mushrooms melt inside the mouth.
He
tasted you here. You wanted to melt
Into
him back then. His ambitions, his life.
It
was such a long time ago.
What history is there between
you?
Even
with all the air-conditioning
I
get lost in the endless ruins of taste
Like
a sweat-drenched archaeologist.
I
have only ordered two dishes.
They
make so many dishes here, so many,
So
many tastes, veg, non-veg, prawn, paneer,
Korma,
rogan josh, reshmi kabab,
Tikka,
keema, jhalfrezie…
All
of these tastes are yours.
Your
eyes, lips, palms, fingers, feet
Your
shoulders, nape of the neck,
Small
of the back, nostrils, ears, tears,
Hips,
thighs, arms, breasts.
Your
words, your voice.
What history am I writing?
I
pay the bill, and get sweet fennel seeds.
Out
on the street, burning
Red
with humiliation.
Was
the blood in his veins and yours
Even
sweeter back then?
***
Bio: Dhee Sankar is a doctoral student of English literature at Presidency University, Kolkata, India. He writes poetry in English as well as in Bengali. His debut collection of Bengali poems, Ushor Pandulipi, was published by the prestigious Patra Bharati in 2022. His English poetry and short stories have appeared in Muse India, Harbinger Asylum, Grand Little Things, Samyukta Fiction, and the Poetry and Covid archive by the government of UK, among others.
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