Author: Amrita Chowdhury

Tied to the screen Without breaks in-between Hearing impaired Concentration frayed … Your name is called out What to say you doubt Mind strayed Memory betrayed … You fumble for words Internet you curse Speech jargoned Time bargained … At night a different scene Your beloved on screen Affection sought Arguments fought … Human connection…

Yesterday you stood Wind in hair, sand between toes Indelible footprints of eternal love Laughter and frolic dancing on waves … Waves crash on shore And disappear froth like The mighty ocean heaves behind Laden with its dark, deep, treasure trove of memories … Here you stand again Wind in hair, sand between toes Bound…

Draw music when you strike The rainbow bars, or black, brown and white Draw music when you strike down your fear … Hear the melody in the air In the chants, loud and fair Hear the melody in the air when voices unite … Keep the beat when they march Down the street along the…

I wander through the bylanes of the old city Vague misty memories spring up like tea stalls in narrow streets The smell of pre-loved books piled up A wonderland to lose your way in the prints of yellowed pages The sound of youth, unburdened chatter Enough nostalgia to drown in for a weary soul Till…

You sit with such serenity Quiet, sage-like, benevolent even With only a threat lying buried deep, unspoken, half-forgotten Lulled into oblivion, Till you erupt… And centuries of accumulated angst Pours forth like lava, All the wrongs that went un-protested Now gush out from your womb torn open Burning red, angry, indiscriminating, Your tears, vaporized Cloud…

Soar unfettered into the open Into the beauty of the moonlit night Glide into the horizon where the silver melts into the golden hour The dawn of awakening The moment of stirring of souls answering the clarion call Free at last of the shackles of this earthly garb Soar unfettered into the light. ….

He wears a locket around his neck Hidden beneath his clothes Yet to those who enquire politely He will shyly explain Passed down by the elders It’s a talisman of his tribe He can’t afford to lose it It’s a symbol of their pride … Oh those blazing eyes! A talisman of his strength Of…

Every time I hear the words ‘you are a strong woman’ I smile, A stupid smile that doesn’t know whether to be proud or ashamed Is being a ‘strong woman’ a compliment? How does one become strong? With exercise? Does your soul flex its muscles and proclaim it’s strength? Do you get strong from pushing…

Sitting on the park bench She watches the sun setting on the horizon The sky resplendent in orange and crimson Like a bride, till she bids adieu And her gold and red lingers on Somewhat sombre for the farewell Rust and antique gold that settles like silk Holding the darkness at bay Like her sitting…

Bound with sorrow, lips quivering You stand there in disbelief The earth goes on in its random motion While the ground has shifted beneath your feet … Emotion laden waves heaving Won’t be released, no not today Because you can’t believe what you have lost No matter the world’s dictum, your heart simply cannot obey…

I am oscillating Between guilt and righteousness, hope and despair Exhilaration of dreams and desolation of stagnation A pendulum swinging between extremes … Oscillating between love and loss Destruction and resurrection Now left with nothing to build on Forever reaching out, trying to grasp But never quite there Falling short, every time … As the…

I like to colour my hair red It is beautiful and brave and spirited with a wish that daring would seep into my heart And colour me red. Because you see I am made of faded colours Like the sunburnt pages of an old magazine Crinkled pages with blotches of colour, desaturated One fading into…