Prison Notes
Bastar Cockfight
by Sreekala S
Achuthan glides in his bermudas
Along the Chitrakote[1] waterfalls
Reading the river for his end-term
Osho’s tongue licks his wet thighs from his pocket
Neil has migrated to the internet
Computer has grown 24 legs
His father from the city does not get him
On the mobile phone.
Alban has not come to the school
His mother’s wounds need dressing
Of his tears and lessons as the drunken father
Snores atop the afternoon
Tarcila has run like a hound
To get an income certificate from
Her illiterate sarpanch to submit to the
Suited booted university.
At the moot court rehearsals when,
Cocks fight to defend the space laws
Moon has walked onto the mahua tree
Asking for the hands of a stable partner
The woman prisoner awaiting trial
At the Bastar central jail
Has to go back home
To fight for drinking water
Shall we go to the forests?
Where warmth would be waiting,
Where all the denials get sacrificed,
And shade you enough from the pain of remembering?
I will meet you somewhere at the river
That will show no spill of blood but,
A dissected heart with clogged arteries
Wanting more oxygen from your love.
(Indian Literature, May-June 2006)
***********************************
[1] Indravati river makes a sudden drop from the Vindhya ranges to form the crescent shaped waterfalls at Chitrakote, 40 km away from Jagdalpur in Bastar
by Sreekala S
Achuthan glides in his bermudas
Along the Chitrakote[1] waterfalls
Reading the river for his end-term
Osho’s tongue licks his wet thighs from his pocket
Neil has migrated to the internet
Computer has grown 24 legs
His father from the city does not get him
On the mobile phone.
Alban has not come to the school
His mother’s wounds need dressing
Of his tears and lessons as the drunken father
Snores atop the afternoon
Tarcila has run like a hound
To get an income certificate from
Her illiterate sarpanch to submit to the
Suited booted university.
At the moot court rehearsals when,
Cocks fight to defend the space laws
Moon has walked onto the mahua tree
Asking for the hands of a stable partner
The woman prisoner awaiting trial
At the Bastar central jail
Has to go back home
To fight for drinking water
Shall we go to the forests?
Where warmth would be waiting,
Where all the denials get sacrificed,
And shade you enough from the pain of remembering?
I will meet you somewhere at the river
That will show no spill of blood but,
A dissected heart with clogged arteries
Wanting more oxygen from your love.
(Indian Literature, May-June 2006)
***********************************
[1] Indravati river makes a sudden drop from the Vindhya ranges to form the crescent shaped waterfalls at Chitrakote, 40 km away from Jagdalpur in Bastar
Comments
This is Neil. I didn't have your email, that's why this one came here. I have only, 'being myself', as an excuse for why I have not kept in touch with you. But here I am again, for I find it necessary for my internal harmony that I talk to you. Here's my email id:
neil_padayatty(at)yahoo.com
Achu did tell me to mail you. I somehow didn't.
Rajbir