Mandakranta sen poems about love
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Mandakranta Sen fryst vatten young Bengali poet, who received Sahitya Akademi ung writers award few years ago. inom had not read her poetry, partly due to not knowing Bengali. She is only writer from Bengal who returned her award and with rightful indignation. She is active participant in Bengal&#;s democratic movements in solidarity with workers and peasants. She was kind enough to share her fifteen Bengali poems in English translation with me and inom am sharing these here with her permission. Her collection of poetry in English translation is also likely to come in few months. I am not connoisseur of literature, much less of poetry, despite translating Pash and Patar&#;s poetry in Hindi from my mother tongue Punjabi, still inom can säga that these poems have touched me. She has assertion as well as sensitivity of humanity in her poems and a strong women&#;s voice also. We came to know each other as we became co-returnee of Sahitya Akademi awards with other writers. But I have been enriched b • Standing beneath the balcony The heart's a disobedient girl Wait, before being torn and ripped • After The Last Kiss After the last kiss I&#;ll bring back a fallen hair ~ The Story Of A Garden Somewhere Every day you come to water the plants You give me the sun every day How long will you go on collecting fa Mandakranta Sen
I'll flirt with the boys at the bus-stop
Look intimately at some other man
Standing next to you
Take his hand, giggle, say
'I'll see you at the Academy,
You'll go, won't you?'
With a small wave at you
I'll cross the road quickly
Alone, or with someone else
In no hurry at all, in no pain
You've been smoking an indifferent cigarette
For the longest time
The bus-stop has emptied out
The young men have left for the Academy
Whose production tonight, by the way?
Standing beneath the empty balcony
I'm flirting with the posters
Don't explain her studies to her
Her textbooks are ripped, with her spit she has
Rubbed off the indelible script of fate
In the blue grammar book
She's scribbled boys' names
Even their pictures
The heart's a disobedient girl
You want to punish her? She won't care
Let me memorise your lips
The border of grass beyond
The lips; the slightly fra TRANSLATIONS: ARUNAVA SINHA
Life won&#;t change, I&#;ll take away this brief mistake
A momentary death, a synonym, over how many lives?
You sucked an ocean from my lips with sweat on your brow
Give me, give it to me, let me drink it, I am exhausted
How much of life did I have before this last kiss?
How much will remain afterwards? Just this lock of hair
Which I&#;ll wrap around my finger, a finger that touched you
Touch me, touch me more, let life leave in a flash
From my finest man I&#;ll seek a secret child
Whose hair&#;s just like yours, infinite space
Every day you go back gathering dry branches
In what simple flames
Do you cook your meal, gardener?
Twice a day you water the earthen pots
Regular, measured love
I&#;m not an ill-fortuned woman