The HyperTexts
Kiriti Sengupta
Kiriti Sengupta, the 2018 Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize recipient, has had
poems published in The Common, The Florida Review Online, Headway Quarterly,
Moria Online, The Lake, Amethyst Review, Dreich, and elsewhere. He has
authored twelve books of poetry and prose; two books of translation; and edited
eight anthologies. Sengupta is the founder and chief editor of the Ethos
Literary Journal. He lives in New Delhi. More at
www.kiritisengupta.com
The four poems below are from his latest poetry
collection, Water Has Many Colors.
Troth
“Do you think that our love can create miracles? Do you think our love could
take us away together?”—Allison Hamilton in The Notebook
Will my wife cross-examine me
as Allison did?
She wishes to depart first.
What if her yen is quashed?
She guards two pairs of bangles:
coral and conch.
Missus ensures they are intact.
She fears a chink will curtail my breath.
Note: Allison (aka Allie) is the protagonist of a 2004 American romantic drama
film, The Notebook.
Orison
Vermilion marks her placing.
Blushing bride bows.
Elders exalt the esse of
her spouse—
Sada suhagan raho!
Note: Sada suhagan raho (be blessed with your love/partner) is a common way of
blessing a newly married woman, usually by the elderly females of the
Hindi/Urdu-speaking Indian families.
Nostalgia
for Prof. Samantak Das
Reports don't reveal
if a note is found
near the corpse.
Compeer says,
He was a Marxist but
he never limited him-
self to party politics.
Newsfeed pours in recollections.
I met him once in Santiniketan.
Exchange of courtesies
beyond a hearty bonjour—
he waned through the misty lane
for his routine walk.
Impromptu earns recalling
when consumption lingers.
Note:
Samantak Das, a professor of comparative literature at Jadavpur University, was
found hanging from a ceiling fan at his Kolkata home on 20 July 2022.
Epic
Every hill trip helps me
think of mountaineers.
Every hill trip helps me
imagine summits.
Every hill trip helps me
look high. Range cannot
meet the sky.
The HyperTexts