Teesta Review: A Journal of Poetry, Volume 1, Number 2. November 2018. ISSN: 2581-7094
Father Image
--- Prabal Basu
I see my father at a distance
Seems familiar
Nearly every day I think of going closer
But the actual distance alludes me
I see my father everyday
From a distance
But we never talk to each other
Every day I feel like going near
Somehow I can’t reach him
Slowly a disquiet builds within me
It grows and multiplies
Just like the stealthily rising water level
Submerges the riverbank
But I’ m plagued by a nagging worry
when I get close
If I find the man seen from a distance is not my father
Actually it’s me who has morphed to look like my father?
Cry in Anguish
--- Prabal Basu
Some days I come and stand in front of the deserted seaside
I see a small fish thrown inland and its
desperate attempts
To get back to the water
The sounds of the fish thrashing about is like a wail from its insides
I think about myself, don’t I also cry in anguish from within
The fish knows it has to go to the water
But I?
Like the deserted sea my inner self also becomes lonely
At some point the saline water comes and takes back the fish
Since I have no place to return to,
I keep standing, continue to keep standing
And slowly, eventually turn
saline.
My Companion
---
Prabal Basu
Silence and me were sitting beside each
other
A river flowing by exclaimed ,
why are you not talking to each other
The afternoon light slowly fading away
said in surprise, why are you not talking to each other
A leaf tired after flying from
afar said, why are you not talking to each other
A fragrant breeze came up and said I’ m
spring, why aren’t you two talking
A railway track can be seen passing by at a
distance, just like a faraway relative
A soufflé of clouds was trying to engulf the
quiet
A nothingness without finding where to
go has barged in between me and silence
A proud flower is staring at us with
all its arrogance
Equator unable to resist curiosity has
come close by
All of them in their respective ways
are wanting to know why we are not speaking to each other
How can I make them understand that if
we speak
The silence will break into thousand
pieces
And I like many others will become
lonely
What If
--- Prabal Basu
You are walking in a procession
What if you find
yourself alone
The others have all gone away
This happened to my father’s old friend
Sukalyan Babu, a politician
What if after being in love for a long time
You realise you are not sure about the identity of your lover
This happened to my sister’s music teacher, Nandini Ray
What if you wrote a manifesto while trying to write poetry
A short story while trying to write the manifesto
While chasing a dream you realised it was not your dream
While speaking out the truth you are constantly blurting out untruth
While accepting many things you understand none were actually acceptable
What if you are a non believer . but slowly you have started
changing your beliefs
You have started accepting all abnormalities as the new normal
Exactly as it happened with our mathematics teacher, Radhyeshyam babu