Bina (Diaspora Dual Identities)

Bina

1. A Wild Wind

 

a wild

wind flew

through the

forest

of words

singing

in my head

sweeping

syllables

into the

spring air

for nomad

birds

to catch

and conjure

into liminal notes

that float

with wayward

clouds

to fall

in a drizzle

of rain

on the

arid plain

of my skin.

 

2. War 

raw is war

drumming

in my head

a fury of words

that speak

to the dead.

3. Archipelago Of Alphabets

in the vast ocean 

of meanderings

i found

an archipelago 

of alphabets

waiting to be strung

into words

that would echo

allegories 

of the impossible

with the possible

of comradely 

conversations

between Michelangelo 

and Banksy

between Hitler 

and Buddha

between Christ 

and Kafka

between hatemongers

and pilgrims of peace

between the inhuman

and the humane.

an archipelago

of alphabets

stringing songs of war

into hymns of peace.

 

Bina (Sarkar Ellias. b. 1949) is poet, writer, art curator and editor-designer-publisher of Int. Gallerie, the award-winning global arts and ideas journal she founded 1997. Her eight books of poems include Fuse (taught at the Towson University, USA), ‘Ukiyo-e Days... Haiku Moments’ and the current Chapbook ‘If Stones Could Speak’. Her poems have been translated into Arabic, French, Greek, Mandarin, Spanish , Urdu, Telugu and Tagalog. She authored the acclaimed “Big Book of Indian Art” in 2024, and has received several awards, including ‘The Women to Watch, 2024, Award’ for excellence in her work. Bina resides in Mumbai, India.

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Setu, April 2025