All posts by ippljournal

Perpetual Race There is a wood out to face,Peer pressure and rat race,Hounding dogs chasing fiercely,Panic stricken you run breathlessly. What’s your aim, what’s your score?With scornful looks they screw nose,Coveted marks and higher percentageBreak all records to set your pace. Can never be at peace with yourself,Constant threat of defeat and disgrace,Should outrun all…

Leisure Minutes and seconds ticked slowThe hands did not move, they seemed reluctantEyes stared at them in blanknessThey moved away from itA lizard flitted quickly pastThe light flickered for a momentOutside the world went on its wayA few sounds came inWork is on as usual, they saidA few images played on in frontSounds came from…

Blob of Water Sky is wetWind refreshingRain sprays on meAll shapes of green bemuseSoaked earth beckonsI become a blob of waterSlide down the window frameDown the body of the jerky busSplash on the roadSlip into the bushesBorn out of the elementsI discard my comingled formKiss mother earthGo down it’s crevassesInto the soft slushy mudLove the…

When the Rains Came I’ve waited so long for the rains,that today, when the clouds sailed,I stayed inside, listening to the thunder. You wrote a poem for a beloved’s touchon wet nights. I sailed with youin the cool, dark afternoon, your wordslike paper boats on puddles,dreaming of reaching churchesand cemeteries under oaks,my eyes and hair…

Native Links It’s like green epidemicGreen turf, green ideasFlowing like a rivuletMurmuring a green song of hope. Big Sal trees live with historyIn the roots.Red soil allure ideasTourists break out in numbersAll small lanes lead to a forestGreen reservoir of words. The pitch dark sky smiles through the gatesOf leaves, wondering shadowsRagged, rickety, forlorn Arrows…

Ahalya As butterflies to wanton boys,they tear our wingsfor their sport.They tend us and curse usrape us and repair uslove us and hate usdeify us and demonize uskill us and revive usfor their sport. Indra,king of the gods, ravished me.He didn’t have to do muchJust take the guise of myhusband!Sage Goutama,my husband, cursed me.He didn’t…

RELIGION and POLITICS: A Dialogue Religion:Man-made scripturesAre used and abusedAll in the name of GodGoodness gracious God Politics:Religion is such an enabling toolTo tear and threatenRip and RapeAll in the name of God Religion:Making me user-friendly through the centuriesMy hymns and mantras chanted and twistedBy such carnivores and cannibalsHeaven is now so hellish Politics:Without you…

Sutapa Chaudhuri The heart speaks in Poetry. In a world torn apart by violence, distrust and strife, an empathetic, inclusive understanding and a liberal, all-embracing vision of life are sorely needed. And it is only Poetry, the elemental language of human emotions, which can impart that empathetic worldview and bring solace to the violence-torn heart.…

Sanjukta Dasgupta I take great pleasure in presenting to our IPPL members and other readers the second issue of Poetry at the Heart of the Nation, the annual e-journal of the Intercultural Poetry & Performance Library (IPPL), Kolkata, on this the first day of January 2020. The second issue of our IPPL journal bears out…

Strands You wanted to pluck a bunch of strandsOff my headInside a vacuum explodes the spaceOutside it hurtsMy earths of hurt roll out into the airEstranging meCompounding like metastasisThe breeze does not balm any longerThe drizzle does not calm the feverThat wraps me like a blanket I hum and harmHumorouslyWho but myself Prayer I pray…