‘A Day-Long Cloudburst’ – Two poems by Kiriti Sengupta
Photo: Karan Madhok
Poetry: ‘In the crematorium, / the priest asks me to / smear ghee on my / father’s skin. He ensures / the fire finds Baba luscious.’
The Man in the Rain
Do I know him?
A man walks down the public road,
ignoring the thunderstorm.
He is alone—
downpour fails to wet him.
The gentleman looks composed.
Seeing him from a distance, I leave
the roadside shade. Incongruity guides
me to approach the stranger.
Drenched in the deluge,
I progress to catch him.
He briskly drifts away.
My handheld beeps:
The forecast suggests
a day-long cloudburst.
*
Expedition
1.
The family is aware of
my affinity for ghee.
They add a spoonful
to steamed rice, enticing
my appetite.
In the crematorium,
the priest asks me to
smear ghee on my
father’s skin. He ensures
the fire finds Baba luscious.
2.
As I float his ashes
in the Ganges, I realize
my father’s passage from
his bedroom to the crematory
has been therapeutic.
***
Kiriti Sengupta, the 2018 Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize recipient, has poems published in The Common, The Florida Review Online, Headway Quarterly, The Lake, Amethyst Review, Dreich, Otoliths, Outlook, Madras Courier, and elsewhere. He has authored twelve books of poetry and prose; two books of translation; and edited eight anthologies. Sengupta is the chief editor of Ethos Literary Journal, and he looks after the English language division of Hawakal Publishers Private Limited, one of the leading independent presses founded by Bitan Chakraborty. Sengupta lives in New Delhi. You can find him on Twitter: @KiritiSKiriti and Instagram: @kiritisengupta. More at www.kiritisengupta.com.
