Poems of Gayatri Majumdar (December 2022)
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1.
2.
a.m.
September 2022
i.
I hear the hard breathing
pumping air – between divinity,
shadows,
Jupiter opens nocturnal fingers of a palm leaf –
a thing lays dead
outside tall white walls
inside the garden of life
noiselessly, its seemingly
distant light
touches my blue lips
reflecting on raised
waterbed’s lily leaves
petalling yellow sonatas
quite out of nothing –
Slow labored breaths of the undead,
unstirred yet dancing –
head inches above the water.
ii.
Unable to bear the burden of light,
the sky cracks, croaking –
slicing, piercing, penetrating
so it makes day – almost god-like
it awakens from deep sleep;
And so, it must be love,
or why is it so blue?
or is it green?
I can’t tell
as I set my foot in a dream,
it slips
dripping gold as it does;
other things luminous, very old –
Crackling, whispering, revving, even whirring.
At certain odd hours,
a broken weary blue rain ‘roses’.
2.
Flower
in Her Hair
She asked puzzled, Why are you
wearing a flower in your hair?
Then there was the fragrance of rain
slowing the planets above…
The boat anchored on my window pane
for nights now under the waning moon –
considering her options, lost in thoughts
stuck as if in an asylum.
She falls into a portal
of pure bliss – a thing sticking to her blasphemies…
forsaking tenderness and time
The frangipani in her hair
held up by a family of chattering monkeys
on their long trip to infinity.
3. Shorts
b.
Lullaby city of mine,
go gather these green waters –
asleep in a blue porcelain cup
where ships anchor
the sweet heart’s dreams
Gayatri Majumdar is founder, editor, publisher of critically acclaimed literary journal, The Brown Critique. Her books include A Song for Bela (a novel), poetry collections Shout, I Know You Are Here and the most recent The Dream Pod (Copper Coin, New Delhi), The lotus of the heart (non-fiction) and ‘Home’ anthology, which she co-edited. She has been widely published in numerous Indian and international journals and anthologies and is working on her next book of poems.
As co-founder of ‘Pondicherry Poets’, Gayatri has been curating the prestigious annual Pondicherry/ Auroville Poetry Festival. She often features poets/artists on the BrownCritique YouTube channel. She lives in Pondicherry and is associated with Sri Aurobindo Society.