Today I have sent you my writings
They are a book-full of poems
In a cage
You will find them jostling
Hence
You will find everything else
Except the space
That should have been between them.
Poetry once appeared
On the vast canvas
Of the recess of the sky
Now that is left behind.
The stars of the night sky
When strung together
Tightly in a necklace
At the salesman’s counter
They will fetch a good price
Yet the connoisseurs may feel
Something is amiss
And that something is
The vast sky
Wide and high
That cannot be weighed and priced.

Suppose a song arose
From the heart of silence
Like a jewel
It is unique and precious
Will you keep it packed in a box?
In king Vikramaditya’s court
His poems the poet read
Never in a hurry,
Nor on a single day.
The demon of the press was yet to come
To obliterate the poetry’s sky
Under the layers of its ink
Ground by a hydraulic grinder
The dough of poetry
Was never gobbled up
In a single gulp
There was time to relish.

Alas! Alas!
The poetry that was meant to be heard
Is now put in the shackles of sight
It is now stored in a library
The beloved of all
From the beginning of time
Is now put up in a showcase
In the market place.
There is no way out
This age is very complex.
Poetry has to go for a tryst with its readers
Riding a Pataldanga-bound omnibus.

I think with a deep sigh
Had I been born in the days of Kalidas,
Were you king Vikramaditya –
And were I –
No, no, it’s of no use.
I have been born a Kalidas
Of the age of printing press
And you are all Malabikas
Of modern times
Poetry you buy
And you read it
Reclining on an easy chair
You do not hear it
With eyes closed
And with ears eager
When it is over
You do not reward the poet with a garland
You feel relieved
After paying the bookseller
A rupee and a quarter.  

September 24, 2006

Transcreation of the poem Patra from the collection Punascha by Rabindranath Tagore.

Image under license with Gettyimages.com

The Week of September 24, 2006      
A Letter by Kumud Biswas  
A Ray of Light by Amit Monga 
Alone by Clint Sheppard
Black by Wangdi Gyalpo
Conflict by Kumud Biswas
Dreaming High by Amitanshu Vishal 
Eternal Love by Shernaz Wadia 
Fantasy by Sandeep Sen 
Finding Me by Sandeep Sen 
Homecoming by Jayati Gupta
Missing You by Aparna Chatterjee
Nature by Jennifer Marie Bayer
Nostalgic India by Nalini Hebbar
One by Choi Yu Wing Smita
One Almighty in All Forms by TA Ramesh 
The Abettors by Shernaz Wadia 
Unconditional Love by Shobhaa Iyer

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