This poem talks about memories associated with many cities that haunt us from the past; and also about the mortality of all that exist around us.
Star of David
The mezzanine pub, Metro
yellow and blue
red strips on the wall
cool interior, low fast Rap
a pitcher of beer
shadow of a teenage couple kissing
– a working day noon
Sharon and me
politically apart, but friends
sat on a shady corner
talked in different accents
I listened to her, floating on the low Rap
Every word fusing images foreign
She came back today morning
from her country
wearing a gray T-shirt, still on,
stenciled across the breasts
– My Mind is My Own
At the bar counter, wine glasses hanged
like lucent mangoes, throbbed in a pain
her voice carried, and it clogged
with the corner shadows
I felt depression ooze from her and
creep into my head
She was drawing a Star of David
with beer spilled on the table
– Israel is a great country, I said, pointlessly
Sharon sat there in silence
– Let’s go out and conquer this city
for a change, I suggested, maybe
the travel, alcohol and me
made Sharon an Israeli again
She left me there, alone,
gone out to the busy MG Road
Parted the traffic without a staff
And walked across
Installation of Pain
Cycle
Rickshaw
In rain
Installation
Of a
Drenched
Dragonfly
The man
Cycling it
Installation of
Aesthetically
Rich
Pain
In rain
My Shark My Whale
(Declaration of an Independence)
When it rains, darkness
from the pond
a fish, winged and thoughtful
ran away with the light
A shark saw this
and went along
When it rains, darkness
and after, light
In the light
hungry shark saw the fish
Stunning light
after an year of rain
a year of pain
The rain ended
and hung down in the sky
a proclamation
Declaring all fish
With wings and thoughtful
are whales
My fish, now a whale
My shark died of hunger
Bare land
In the desert
Shadow of
an ancient tree
Sun
sand
mirage
Every speck of sand
burning with memories
of an old wilderness
About the Author
Junaith Rahman is a bi-lingual poet based in Cochin, Kerala. He has published in Malayalam and English journals like Bhashaposhini, Indian Literature and many online journals.English poems published in anthologies like Indo Australian Anthology of Contemporary Poetry, Acerbic Anthology, etc. Subtitled many short films also.
