A Lesson By the Sea— Sonali Pattnaik
it looks at me
in open-mouthed mockery
and drops
its silvery languorous jaw
open
the mighty teacher-sea
I have learnt
while I have watched
ensconced in its sand-classroom
bench, in awe
some bathe
some breathe
prayers and sorrows
into its belly, as it swells
holding up their bodies
as boat-beings,
sometimes they capsize
and emerge like goosepimples
upon her frothy skin
others tug at her heart
with anchors thrown deep
the sun-bell rings red
in my lost ears
I pack up my limbs
I look behind me for some hot tea
to fill my empty daydreaming
wondering if I learnt a thing
as I walk away the sea gushes
mad and timeless
laughter onto my heels
I know the rest of life will be homework.
Dr. Sonali Pattnaik (PhD) is an award winning feminist poet, academic, educator and visual
artist. She is the author of When the Flowers Begin to Speak (Writers Workshop, 2021), a solo
collection of poetry. Her book on the body politics of Bollywood cinema, based on her
doctoral research, is forthcoming from Orient Black Swan.
Ruminations of A Guilty Tourist— Nabanita Sengupta
They stood.
Their young folds now wrinkled,
rugged and rigid guardians
of this world gone awry.
Roads cutting across their diaphragm
and they bleed brown.
Once green and nubile
exhilarating youth,
now stand forlorn
awaiting fate in the
smoke and sirens
of the four wheeled monsters
painting them in a dusty lifeless shade.
If, perhaps, someday…
Man will turn more human
and will reign in the beast.
Yeats! Your warning rings
across continents, across space.
These tall rugged Lords still stand guard
to that second coming of final days!
Nabanita Sengupta is a translator, creative writer and academician teaching in an undergraduate college in Kolkata. She has several books to her credit and has been variously published in journals and e-zines.
Parcham Online 
Leave a comment