Raja Chakraborty (Voices Within 2023)

Raja Chakraborty, born and brought up in Kolkata, India, is a much published bilingual poet, writing in English and Bengali. He has penned five books of English poems so far, 'The Soup Bowl and Other Poems', ‘Whispers in the Wind', ‘Broken Lines and Rainbows', 'About Maya and Other Poems' and 'Where the Shadow Falls'. In Bengali he has published seven books of poems. He is a regular contributor to magazines which include Setu, Piker Press, The Writers Club, First Out, Litterateur Rw, Dissident Voice, Duanespoetree, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Borderless Journal, Outlook, Different Truths and a host of anthologies.

A Forever Friend:

 

when the road hides itself

and the day is like a puzzle with no clue

eyes falter, images breaking into fragments of sighs

when the light disappears into a never-ending night

and love seems like a distant dream

 

go back to poetry

 

for therein waits a friend you always wanted

and words that tell you how to swim against the tide

fly with the wind, be a bird in the sky

find your roots, keep holding on

until you are the tree

that stands through seasons and ages

to give shelter and hope

 

 

Resonance:

 

the sparrow quipped

two decibels lower than yesterday

 

flutter of wings

shook out an age-old saying

wide-eyed, new-born beaks

mimicked the echo

 

losing resonance

with each passing season

 

small voices die

in the barks of dead trees-

ants scrape fallen words

rest is silence

 

 

 

Meanwhile:

 

all these forwarded messages

talking about six-pack abs

how to fall in love

what to cook

how to cross burnt bridges

 

(meanwhile you wonder

what went wrong with the seasons

the way you read it)

 

ah, sorry

that has not been told yet

like so many untold prophecies-

you still gotta do it on your own

 

your angel standing tall, stone-faced

another friend with broken nose

another whiplashed evening

while you counted the marbles

 

(meanwhile you remember

the awkward questions

that tripped you time and again)

 

stumbling moments

over blocks of past sun-downers

 

for the rest, scroll back

you may still try to mimic

someone else’s tasted salt water

that makes eyes itch

---

Setu, November 2023 :: Voices Within 2023