Haiti 3

the dead lived in caskets
their eyes shorn
suddenly
of a wisp
of unwept
agony
the dead saw
the living
in complete
congruity
as the living rushed
to be next to them
in death
life merely stammers
in death
eyes remember
the strangeness
of its first dawn.

Poem and Ink Drawing by Amitabh Mitra

Haiti 2

helicopters crossed a torn
sky
while birds escaped
on to the other side
people stretched their hand long
people peered at the hole for long
people caressed the tear for long
there were no stars
there wasn’t any sun
the birds never came back.

Poem and Ink Drawing by Amitabh Mitra

Haiti 1

haitians stood
some came from afar
there was this strange smell
not of death
nor of the dying
nobody had seen before
the laughter
of death
nobody
had spoken before
the common language
of death
nobody before
died
while watching death.

Poem and Ink Drawing by Amitabh Mitra

Haiti

people queue for rations
a ravaged sunset hides behind a tall night
a child suddenly just forgot to cry
a mother couldn’t remember her only child
the queue then just touched a solitary sky.


Poem and Ink Drawing by Amitabh Mitra

The rainbows last evening

two rainbows woke up
last evening at east london
eyes still heavy in slumber
in rebellion
in unequivocal shadows
clouds gaggled away in
a rush of quarrelsome gulls
about
who is who
more beautiful today
I remembered you at hauz khas
behind the ruins
when you had touched
me with your smile
on such an unlikely day.

Poem and Photograph by Amitabh Mitra

Mdantsane Black

fireflies burn a blue sky
black
black are we
grown from unseen embers
black is mdantsane
black is the river soul
and a runaway season
black is the night
of hurts
and tangled
thoughts
of sudden you.

Mdantsane Photograph by Amitabh Mitra

Mdantsane Laughter

mdantsane grows on its own
piece of sky
and land
its birds live there only
occasionally the grass grows
crossing the perimeters
a taxi swerves into another
white collared land
honking madly
passengers laugh
at caged zebras
rushing around in
a strange dress code
trying to shed
its timeless riverguilt
a girl laughs out aloud clutching a tree
back in rural mdantsane.

Poem and Drawing by Amitabh Mitra