Teesta Review: A Journal of Poetry, Volume 4, Number 2. November 2021. ISSN: 2581-7094
Puffed up
--- Atreya Sarma
(This is the first of
the two poems read out at the online poetry session ‘Whispering to a River: An
Evening by the Teesta’ on 13 Jun 2021, organised by Teesta Review.)
I did have some
accomplishments to my credit.
Many began to sing
paeans to my merit...
Respecting my social
standing, age and gender, ...
My background, network
of friends, work and agenda.
I harped on objectivity
and empathy.
To be judgmental was my
sworn antipathy.
Set against camps, I put
camp-followers at bay; ...
Yet, lavish praise came
my way, in every way.
Puffed up my head – with
praise of fulsome amount!
I was raised and hoisted
on the highest mount, ...
And ensconced on the
garish throne thereabout.
Lo! My vision was now
dimmed...
With the dense clouds of
mist and fog so very intense, ...
With the smoke and snow
beneath so immense.
Oof! It finally parted
me from my ‘lowly’ earthy audience.
The fourth tense
---
Atreya Sarma
(This is the second of
the two poems read out at the online poetry session ‘Whispering to a River: An
Evening by the Teesta’ on 13 Jun 2021, organised by Teesta Review.)
A train’s window-view
yields you an enlivening panorama.
No home theatre or IMAX
screen gives you as much drama.
It takes you through
habitations and habitats handsome; ...
Through vast stretches
of verdant fields fabulous; ...
Over hills and dales;
and across lakes and rivers marvellous.
The tinsel movies are edited,
nay – botched, raucous and patchy; ...
But the slow-motion
railway-vision is virgin and plenary.
The passing-show through
the train’s window...
Is an alfresco, serene,
soothing crescendo...
Not soiled with
congestion or suffocation.
It gives your mind a
free play of imagination...
While the other two
enslave you with their ersatz sensation.
So, I fall for the
rail-borne show...
With its enchanting
variety landscape, ...
Not the mawkish and
mushy cinemascope ...
Which surely bombs
before the train tempo.
The train moves on ahead
into the time...
Towing your mind with
its rhythmic rhyme, ...
Turning each present
into a past...
And each future into a
present.
A wonderful space-time
minstrel with a unifying tense!
With a bus or a plane,
you absolutely get no such sense!
No such thrilling view!
No such déjà vu!