Barry Stock photo
By
Rita Bhattacharjee
The Unbearable Callousness of Death
ping
ping
sings your phone
as it nests in its blood-red case
ping
ping
texts flow fast
almost as fast as rounds off a semi-automatic barrel
ping
ping
ma’am, did you request
a dirge
a funeral song
for your child?
your compassionate congressman wants to know
you pray
you wait
you hope
for your phone to go
ping
ping
as you sit in the graveyard on your familiar sofa
rat-a-tat
rat-a-tat
of a killing machine
ringing in your ears.
Everyday Goddess
She was born on a stormy night / no conch shell blew
no one laughed / poverty has no place for girls.
She was severed from the womb with a new blade / sterilized as an afterthought
freed of nine months of debt / shackled eternally to penury.
She was a mortal with goddess genes / no one had a clue
raindrops baptized her / drenching her with celestial blessing.
Neither a goddess nor a fallen woman is she—
She is Durga! An everyday woman yearning to be free!
She was married at sixteen / forced to be a woman in her teens
feeding mouths was hard / guarding daughters against predators harder.
She was finally home, she thought / wife to a poor man, rich in love
resplendent in red bindi / glass bangles in happy colors.
She was about to be a mother / her inner child in harmony with the child within
looking expectantly at the door / her family would now be complete.
Neither a goddess nor a fallen woman is she—
She is Durga! An everyday woman yearning to be free!
She was told in hushed tones about a bomb on a train / an unholy day she’d never forget
drenched in blood, she howled / her face white as her house of cards.
She was listless as she held her newborn / a tiny fist latching on to her finger
a reminder that life awaited / hope germinated in defiance.
She is Ananya–one of a kind
crisp white uniform / blue ribbons soaring in the hair
black letters taking shape on notebook / her trident poised in anticipation
of vanquishing more demons.
Neither a goddess nor a fallen woman is she—
She is Durga! An everyday woman yearning to be free!
Rita Bhattacharjee
Rita Bhattacharjee is a communications consultant with extensive experience in managing corporate and internal communications for companies across diverse industries, including non-profit organizations. She is the co-founder of Mission Arogya and Arogya HomeCare and has recently relocated from the US to India to channel her skills towards social entrepreneurship to increase awareness and reduce disparity in public health. She also writes poetry, some of which have been included in anthologies and published in reputed international journals, including The Copperfield Review, Contemporary Literary Review, Camel Saloon, Café Dissensus, About Place Journal, and Kitaab.
Thank heavens you extended your little hand to me. I read your poems with joy,with tears,with laughter and With psychotic whimper.