Poems by Mangesh Narayanrao Kale
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Unsound
What’s this hum? Footsteps approaching from far away? Or thousands of oncoming soldiers marching in perfect unison? Exactly what is this sound? Is it the fury stored inside or a lump rising up to the throat from deep within? Or is it the very existence scuffing the floor while being dragged away? The sound’s coming for sure coming from far far away but is not within earshot so as to be singled out The sound can be heard keeping the ear to the ground It’s the sound of something collapsing right within and of a disquiet that makes one helpless and of something snapping in our very depths and of skidding and being released for ever and of becoming nil of nudity of being stripped and of hush and horror and the twang of carrion skin and of suffocation and sheer incapacity The sound’s unmistakable increasing decibel by decibel and throbbing within the chest as if the body’s glass would crack in half a sec The whole mercury has evaporated and the body’s been rendered naked The lead in the bones has begun to melt and the phosphorus too has dissolved This sound can explode any moment turning house and hearth into a heap of ashes and leaving the ground so flat that it can be ploughed Is the thump of footsteps approaching from far a deception or a delusion? Or is it that someone’s really coming? Has someone been taken captive in their own house and just can’t step out of this terror’s confines? Is this a permanent circle of darkness or a prelude to anarchy or is the present itself sinister? So where are these voices coming from? Far away are they lying in wait for the prey to come within approach? Translated from the Marathi by Sarabjeet Garcha Prowess Never told before, this is the story of an adroitly hatched conspiracy that was called off before it could be executed. In other words, there are so many stories that get written by us or even by others unbeknownst to us. For instance, a man flashing a sharp knife appears in a dream every day and, grabbing me by the collar, shakes me out of sleep, then begins grilling me. I want to answer but my tongue has atrophied and not a single sound escapes my mouth. Then, right in front of my eyes, he goes on a hacking spree. His eyes gleam with satisfaction: he’s done the job. Coming to, I become anxious with the feeling of being alive and, staggering, open the dream’s door. Now, I have this dream every day of one or two men breaking in and killing me. It’s so frequent that dream faces, their eyes glowing with embers, become visible in the vicinity. Then I myself open the door for the dreams and see them off far away, far beyond the border, and acquit them. Then a mob comes. Unarmed. Grinning, they enter the village, the courtyard, the door. Somebody has come sniffing even the smell trail of meat crackling in the kitchen. Shuddering, I break into a run, extracting myself from the gang’s custody. Hands trembling, I myself open the dream’s door and walk out safe and sound. I’ve now become skilled in stepping out of dreams. Translated from the Marathi by Sarabjeet Garcha |
Mangesh Narayanrao Kale is a poet, painter, editor and art critic. He is the author of six major books of poems in Marathi, including Shoonya Garh Shahar (Copper Coin, 2023), and two books of art criticism. He has won multiple awards for his poetry, including the Maharashtra Foundation Award (USA), Bhavabhuti Award, and Yashwantrao Chavan Award. He has also received three fellowships, including one from the India Foundation for the Arts. Kale is the founding editor of Khel (Play), an acclaimed little magazine that has published several special issues celebrating the works of the finest poets writing in Marathi. His artworks have been exhibited all over India and abroad in both solo and group shows. He lives and works in Pune.
Sarabjeet Garcha is a poet, editor, translator and publisher. His five books of poems include All We Have, A Clock in the Far Past and Lullaby of the Ever-Returning, in addition to a volume each of poems translated from Marathi and prose from Hindi. He has translated several American poets into Hindi, including W.S. Merwin and John Haines, and several Indian poets into English, among them Mangalesh Dabral and Leeladhar Jagoori. He has received the Fellowship for Outstanding Artists from the Government of India, the International Publishing Fellowship from the British Council, and the Godyo Podyo Probondho Award. His poems have been translated into German, Spanish, Russian, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Punjabi and Hindi. He is the founder and editorial director of Copper Coin (www.coppercoin.co.in), a multilingual publishing company based in Delhi NCR.
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