A nonchalant poem I write I write sleep, the village climbing up the dust of pensiveness The astonishing temple of that village! Millions of moments That can decipher the language of void and harshness, The forsaken land, canal, pool; The stack of cereals lying on the path reminding Jibanananda— Stealthily I enter and sit inside it In the floor-light, the golden rice glitters, also glitters The gruesome Fate, whistles in the Phalgun afternoon. The obscure answers of hardship I never wrote—silently This time too, I chop their wings; This, what my flight is…
In the infallible wordbook of memory, I’ll remain wordless Birth after birth, taciturn
Outpaced
I’ve carried this spine like a broken bow. So many snakes have enchained it, so many bushes Have hushed up and hidden their hiss, O flutist, You’ve come to play the flute amidst… My dress is torn forever; my dirt-pores are open! Bare me, intense me, roaring me Now I’m untying my desire, spuming my menstrual blood Giving out my body parts… no anguish in this birth Will grasp you, no compassion will touch your hair end No flame of fire, nowhere, will ever burn your age
Only in the greens, see, in the blue firmament The cave’s door has been shut, Listen, I’ve doffed the nipples from my unabashed breasts— Pull the muscles of dense shoulder of the speech-lioness
Tightened, the spine has become mobile, free, Is now rushing forward for all earthly gratifications!
Translated by the poet
Arpita Kundu, an English teacher by profession is a young Bengali poet ofrecent times. Her poetic journey has been marked by acclaimed works such as Gangeyo Yamunar Teere(2017) and Parijayi... Pratnatattyik (2021), both published by Dhansere Publications. Her poems have been published in all the major literary magazines of West Bengal. Her literary prowess has earned her prestigious accolades including the ‘Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi Shakti Chattopadhyay Smarak Samman’ and the ‘Krittibas Puraskar’ for her debut collection of poems in 2019. Translations of her poems have been published in the noted journal of translation, Antonym. She is also a translator and the poems translated by her had been published in journals like Muse India.