Three Photo Poems: Gopal Lahiri

Uxbridge

I imagine a packet boat anchor there and ready
to sail in the Blackstone Canal on the other side.
 
Green warbles scout up tree after tree
and then stop, begin to cry out in chorus.
 
They now look at the brick eye and rearrange
the mesh of their wings, later they quietly sit
 
on the bridge until their eyes are filled with sleep.
The slim and delicate needles of pine throw
 
caution in the wind as great chested flycatchers
wake up and begin to fly in all directions.
 
Towpath Trail separates the shadows of history
thrown amid the grass in a new time and space.
 
*Uxbridge is in Worcester, Massachusetts, US

***

 

Time of Transience

It is 7-10 PM Chicago time; we look through
the hazy glass window, our eyes widen to notice
a strange bowl of yellow-orange sun spreads at the
horizon line, perhaps ready to drop down
to the roof of the skyscrapers.
 
Each particle of light bursts in variants of colour,
glows and gleams, capturing the atmosphere
infused with a sense of yearning and melancholy,
passing out slowly and steadily,
through the corridors of the earth and sky.
 
History is now an old timer here bleeding
anecdotes, the dark clouds will soon drop
a few stars on the busy downtown street far below.
The spring wind brushes the glass wall.
A rare moment to celebrate the time of transience.
 
*Chicago, Illinois is in US
***


Chicago 360

It may be a rainbow time
but below nonetheless
the city shimmers.
                                               
High-rise by high-rise
goes up one by one
in a series or parallel lines.
 
The glass case here defends
the gutsy lake winds with
a glass-willow dead- bat.
 
Lake beach, navy pier,
harvest glowing sunsets,
and curl stories day and night.
 
What joy to look at miniscule
birds perhaps puff, hulks and hisses
on the roof of the matchstick trees.
 
Not crossing platforms of time
and yet it is. So, goes
regular life here, there, and everywhere.
 
Below pigmy-sized people walk on
the streets, lanes, and by-lanes
over the shoulder of April evening.
 
*Chicago, Illinois is in US
***

 

Bio: Gopal Lahiri is a bilingual poet, critic, editor, writer and translator with 29 books published, including eight solo/jointly edited books. His poetry is also published across various anthologies as well as in eminent journals of India and abroad. His poems are translated in 16 languages. He has been nominated for Pushcart Prize for poetry in 2021. He is the recipient of the Poet of the Year Award in Destiny Poets, UK, 2016, Setu Excellence Award, 2020, Pittsburgh, US. His collection of poems ‘Alleys are Filled with Future Alphabets.’ has received Pan Asian Ukiyoto Award, 2021 and recently he has received First Jayanta Mahapatra National Award, 2024 for his contribution in Indian English Writing.


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