Exhibiting at the Ann Bryant Gallery, East London

Acrylic on Canvas by Amitabh Mitra

Buffalo Flats

buffalo flats enters a salient draft
winds of a change
and the same old suffering respite
i have nearly forgotten caring
many years after the election
a sun remains indifferent here
an afterspirit of dancing
blues
jazz
colors of a twinkle
like all those shades of years
since i left
buffalo flats is a thought
in these mermaid nights
long after they fall in
adjacent grey patterns
long after the girl sang of unforeseen
summers
holding you
in lips
would also be
a thought
so far from you.

Buffalo Flats is a colored area of East London

Poem and Watercolor by Amitabh Mitra

Southernwood Jacaranda

jacaranda colors in november
violet is not the river nor a street
not even an insidious sky
it’s just another time creeping up trees
at night
past dreams
and lips
a train screams down in
collateral junctions
past known faces
and uncalled remembrances
am i there
have i left
violet is daylight
seeping nerves
patterns of unequal
destiny.

Poem and Watercolor by Amitabh Mitra

Ann Bryant Gallery, East London, South Africa

Ann Bryant Art Gallery, St. Marks Road, East London, South Africa
Built in 1905
Ann Bryant left her collection of art, building and the grounds to the City of East London when she died on 16 September 1946

Pen and Ink Drawing by Amitabh Mitra

buried sea

west bank
east london
the sea closes in
departure
sun froth swings in
long lost tales creep back
moist grass makes up
for the lost time
a sky shifts back
to old alleys
my face wet
i can almost hear
a call of
muzzein from
the dargah of
khwaja khanoon
at home

and
the old and buried
remains the
sea.


Poem and Watercolor by Amitabh Mitra

East London

east london
an african sun suddenly stood
still
in the midst of rain
people
and thoughts
unseen
a song climbed
another tenor
splashing you
ferns of laughter grew wild
a patter of rainsteps
ran amok
shadows
tugged
whispered
of distant shores
long lost touch
wet with a shiver
of dawn.

Photograph by Kaustav Mitra