Mdantsane Taxi Rank

highway taxi rank in mdantsane
wakes up to a dust smeared morning
in a cacophony of smog and stridor
people travel their dreams
and hopes
on a brittle movement
across earthenware horizons
and then
she sees him
everyday
eyes
startle
a taxi evades
the glimmer of a
joyous
day


Poem and Drawing by Amitabh Mitra

Carnival Nights

an evening creaks in
touching shadows with a tinge
of smile
a slow release laughter
aloe and wild grass shake to
jazz moments
tiredness breaks its shackles
ran the curves of a distant sun
words lost its way home
as usual
a poem unwound itself
from an angle of your eye
mdantsane bursts itself in a mayhem
of another carnival night.

Poem and Drawing by Amitabh Mitra

Mdantsane Children

mdantsane children take to the streets
happiness is as hungry
a barren sky chides of dreams
the sun looks down
guilty
till
proved
dishevelled laughter
rules.


Poem and Drawing by Amitabh Mitra

Mdantsane Nights

lulama hurries home
mdantsane enters a war zone
an evening creeping into a shelter
of spoken shadows
a dying night screams somewhere
the last breath snatched without pity
happiness now brims in the slaughter
of the unforgotten.


Poem and Drawing by Amitabh Mitra

A Slow Train to Gwalior, Poetry CD, Listen to this East London Gem - Jan Hennop

The Poetry of 'A Slow Train to Gwalior' was recorded in 2000 by Harp Studio, Johannesburg.

The CD has my poetry recitation with a backdrop of African and Indian traditional music. The music is of Louis Viljoen

The CD was launched in New Delhi by Shree Jyotiraditya Scindia, Member of Parliament.



I had the pleasure to give a performance poetry session accompanied by Louis Viljoen at the Grahamstown Festival 2009. It was a Poetry Jazz Yatra.

Jan Hennop, Senior Journalist from Daily Dispatch, premier news daily of South Africa has compared my poetry to sweet lassi in his Dispatch blog. He listens to it in his car while going and coming back from the office.

This is his writeup about the music of 'A Slow Train to Gwalior'

Every year, artists, musicians and poets from East London contribute generously to the Grahamstown Arts Festival – and this year is no exception. One of the must-see shows from our shores is a collection of love poems by renowned writer and physician Dr Amitabh Mitra. This is what he has in mind for you…

A seasoned writer, Mitra will perform poems from his DVD and CD entitled “A Slow Train to Gwalior”. It’s a collection of love poems, which takes you on a sentimental journey back in time to Mitra’s childhood in India, filled with old family homes, forts and palaces and places where he grew up.

His poetry will be accompanied by the guitar of Louis Viljoen.

Listening to Mitra’s gentle lines and voice is the artistic equivalent of slowly savouring a sweet lassi – a favourite traditional Indian milkshake… It’s highly recommended.

Or, if you’re just having a stressed out day, listen to one of Mitra’s soothing poems here.

Konnagar in Leaping the Lilac Sun

dreams resplendent with green

i walk up the trees reaching the sky

i didn’t find any gashes or bleeding wounds

on its back

nobody has yet stabbed it

birds swim through an easy breast stroke

and flowers bloom as usual after the day closes its shutters

a voice of the baul plays on the strings

of a handloom river

night comes reverently

unleashing its warmth

i sleep unlikely

in the crypt and cradle of your stars.

Poem and Drawing on a hand made paper by Amitabh Mitra

Baul - A traditional folk singer of Bengal

Mdantsane Trains

mdantsane trains goes to east london
and comes back
between streets shacks and a solitary sky
people go to work
people come back home
their loneliness blossoms
within the train
amidst daily familiarity
there is nothing beyond
each other’s eyes
there is nothing
when we reach home.



Poem and Watercolor by Amitabh Mitra