Poetry: Matralina Pati

Matralina Pati

The Musk Deer

You have stepped over

The musk deer,

Its feet fleeting

Across the effervescent syllables

Of the redolent breeze_

In haste, 

Seeking stillness.

The ineffectual deer

Retreats to a murky lair at dusk,

Where time’s breath cannot reach.

And it runs over the effervescent syllables

Of time,

To retreat again_

To this earth’s dusky cave.

***

Humane Poetry

That day all of them in league

Would turn into poetry: 

They would piece 

Lyrics together

From the flutters of laconic eyes: 

Poems painted

Without the aid of words. 

My scanty life these days

Lives off this hope, 

And stays awakened

For a promising morn. 

***

The Crescent Moon

The crescent moon, this night

Has walked over my frail heart 

To return home 

To the stars. 

I crawl through the shrouded plain

And turn back 

To the Internet. 

I have deemed the art of suicide

Less hurtful than murder. 

***

Old Curators of Songs 

I mulled over how 

 Both of them 

Could transform into songs:

Across the nonchalant lines of life

Nestled in wrinkled faces

They have designed 

Lyrics impromptu 

To sail through

Placid, restful septuagenarian frames!

***

Within a Cage

“When you think about it, mostly, a cage is air ”  _Sandra Simonds

One score of decenniums 

Expired in a glazed cage

You have been succoured alone

By the stale customs of the age,

Nestled in the art of living:

An enamelled falsehood_ enticing. 

The anxious millennium 

With a flustered face

Flutters in the air 

Like a headstrong moth; 

Forge the fetters of reverie

Only to tear through them, 

In this manner only you can 

Reclaim your esse. 

***

Bio: Matralina Pati, is a Ph.D. research scholar, bilingual poet and a translator from West Bengal, India. Her creative and critical writings have been published on national and international platforms. She has authored a book of translations titled Monsoon Seems Promising This Year (selected poems of postmodern poet Rudra Pati, translated from Bengali into English).

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Setu, March 2025