By: Aneek Chatterjee

1. Hide & Seek

I play hide & seek
with you, myself.
Sometimes
I do murmur lost songs, favorite
poems, surreal images

& when I wake up
& land in my swanky office,
a surreal painting adorns
the wooden wall
I’ve kept a few books of poem
in the rack to woo the visitor

Now I start playing
hide & seek
with you, music, poetry,
me

###

2. Amphan 2020

Trees struggled & struggled
to live; they’re now
crestfallen, sharing woes
with the road.
The thatched roof of a village
dwelling looks awed from
the top of a surviving dam
Devastated crops are silent,
injured guard to human bodies
A few stray dogs are searching
food, in company of naked
human babies

I’m unable to trudge along
this path of destruction
any more
Lay me beside the crops
I wish to see a clear sky
from my soil
& smiling animals,
again, again & again

###

3. Ephemeral

We met again, suddenly.
The script was ready
We talked about local
& national politics, & agreed
that it was a blank phase
We discussed possible solutions,
but the noise in the fair
could not provide any

I talked poetry, but
he said, let’s meet sometimes
and chat for a long time;
& I agreed …
Thrice in the last four years

We departed soon, without
fixing any time & place for our
long chat …
Thrice in four years.

###

4. Dark

Poetry in dark times,
you seemed to be; or
so I thought

There was no beacon
of light, no word to blow me
off, no syllable excellent

The meaning of dark is different
to different souls; my skeleton
dances in the lighted floor, only in dark

Dark nurtures innovative skills
only the shining knife knows, as
well as shining minds

Let me grow in dark, eternally.
My skeleton is far away from
dazzle, & startling words