All posts by ippljournal

DIFFERENT BIRTHS, SAME LIFE (a) A Man Pitch-black in a burst of crickets is when I wake up, trying to find the familiar folds of loose nightwear around me. Instead I am sitting by the flame of a glass-encased lamp, wearing crumpled white kurta-pyjama. On the balcony, I watch the full moon, kissing stubbled, dappled…

Tug of war To do list…in front raring to put tick marks on them all work sorted in there cheerfully I begin… Minutes turn to hours morning to noon evening finds me on the terrace Bindings of mundane work I carry along up there… Still under the crimson sky alluring sights of free birds’ flight…

At Home: Lines written in self-isolation “Perhaps home is not a place but an irrevocable condition.” James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room (I) In hushed dreams, ‘Welcome Home’ This morning I woke up to the smell of the stale night in my warm bed, I woke up, as I always do, seeing in my blurred dreams the…

Until i became the I I tried to wriggle out of all my pains my soul rendered an abode of storm all the joyful sensual pleasures pressed and bruised under its pernicious weight should I be a spectator and watch the intermittent game with the theatrical fondness of a frivolous lover or Uproot all of…

Her Cycles of Boons, Curses and Vows There is just one open window the eyes are blurred, night like the details fade with the day’s growth birds drift in and out of the room like the story of Karna a boon-child is cursed. How can we avoid the beginning of the inevitable, after the war…

Grief in Silver Winter (In loving memory of my late brother, Nilanjan Banerjee)(With apologies to Shakespeare in the last stanza) Grief, coated in silver winter brings up remnants of memory like patchwork clouds… I have chewed on the sweater sleeves we wore while playing football indoors. I was a child, and the wool came undone…

Unreal It’s so dark and dry under the tree, the leaves are filling a doorway. Emptiness takes me there, a few more steps, Any further, the whisper breaks into alphabet. How deep it goes, this soul, shadows moving between two pillars, Restless, am I restless? face to face with blankness, The silence reaches height and…

Ferris Wheel Ride Upon the giant wheel ride, I sat, clutched the handle and crushed my hat, With bated breath at what lies ahead, I talked to myself about the bread. Winds wrapped around me in winter chills, As the wheel soared high towards the sky, Who would pay for my bills? I screamed wide…

Gemstones As I lay myself down on the vacant bed of an empty room with an empty heart, what is full is only the eyes that hold so much of the pearly drops created by the watery emotions, overflowing with deep thoughts that irritates my peaceful mind, but just as the oyster transforms the irritants…

The Temple and the Goddess They decked me up In fancy lights and garlands. They had even painted me. They remembered that I housed a deity. All around , in the midst of cacophonous dizziness Stood a couple of wandering storks And stray dogs seeking shelter. Smoke billowed up and shrouded My crown. In front…