alcan photo
By
Gopal Lahiri
Blue Whistlers
The milkman who has grown too old
Now turns silent.
The sound of the cycle bell rings,
Those market women squat on the footpath.
There are pigeons and sparrows in our narrow lane,
Not always leaf peeping around,
They can still remember bullets and holes of the riots.
The starch gone out of his pants, the newspaper man
Tells me all those countless acts of heroism.
The charcoal night includes thorns
Leaning over the fish tail palm, shadows crowded back
Untangled the knotted strands.
Now the Gulmohor tree on the gate,
Heads heavy with seeds,
Ready to let loose the buds.
Converging on the broken walls,
The morning rays in parallel
Fill up every crevice.
Scars and wounds appear only in a haze
Shadows play around the wooden doorways
With the memory bands.
It’s a crucial time to be alone, silent.
And with every passing of the day
Counting the age of this sprawling island city,
My morning still reaches out
To the tweets of those tiny blue whistlers.
Sea Lounge
Disabled sun barely lights up the afternoon
Scattered clouds like chopped salads
on the southern sky.
Police barricades hem up the sidewalks near the
Gateway of India.
Even then there are times when
Fishing boats’ flags fluster like Monet’s dusk painting,
Twilight of a different kind-
Uncovered, unadorned, unblinking.
Meltdown hungry for sev puri and cheese toast
The crowded lounge filled with tootles and screeches,
cackles of laughter,
post truth, plain speak and trolls- roll into one.
Gossamer saris shining in the bright light,
perfect in their giggles,
the tumult that flickers in colour of oriental sapphire,
order organic blends and milk latte.
Ceiling glows to keep alive the unattended souls.
Convoluted contours measuring the different levels,
Offering lessons on aggression and wordless sound.
What is love if not for The Lady of the Shallots
Looking for the coveted Queens Necklace,
Outside the evening sky speak gently to the strangers.
Seven torches of God, Seven touches of fire.
Gopal Lahiri
Gopal Lahiri was born and grew up in Kolkata, India. He is a bilingual poet, critic and writer and widely published in Bengali and English language in India and abroad. He has six poetry collections in English and jointly edited the anthology of poems: Scaling Heights. He can be reached at [email protected], https://www.facebook.com/glahiri and https://twitter.com/gopallahiri.
Great...