moth

Poems

Gently — so gently — with care

He curled up in bed,

And the mourning forest said —

'Crawl back to your shell',

Oh, bed! — snug and warm;

He tugged, hugged her close

And I crawled into bed,

Oh, bed! — of barbed wire;

He slithered through her sleep,

She writhed in her dream,

Barbs — stinging my purulent sores,

Steaming them, until just tender;

And her wonder eyes opened

Still floating in longing dream,

With lonely molten frozen tears

I smelled my burning scars,

Only going through the motions

Hustling old habits, he asked —

Do I feel the pain?

Half conscious — numb in cold?

'Who are you thinking of?'

Deep breaths — I'm almost there,

Yet to reach — though near;

With more breaths to breathe

Through the night's darkest hue,

She could only say —

'Not you'.

by dyutiman mukhopadhyay.

February 2021;

Picture © DYUTIMAN MUKHOPADHYAY.

Sleep! my crying poems—

Sleep! sleep for now!

Sleep! till the Moon calls you at dawn;

The Sun has long woken in the musk deer’s dream—

Myrrh and frankincense of innocence—yearn;

Oh, fear not—the tear of burning Sun!

Cold! ‘tis cold! and waiting to cry—

In dark-hued nocturne!

—dyutiman mukhopadhyay.

February 2021.

Picture © DYUTIMAN MUKHOPADHYAY.

We speak so much in silence—

Without talking;

We see so much in defiance—

Without looking;

We kiss so deep in fervence—

Without touching;

And locked we are in embrace.

—dyutiman mukhopadhyay.

—The most famous of Gustav Klimt’s paintings (created 1908-1909) and one of the most famous in European modern art.

—I took the photograph at the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere museum in the Belvedere, Vienna, Austria on September 4, 2016; Vienna, Austria (artistic rendering—Adobe Photoshop CC).

February 2020.

Picture © DYUTIMAN MUKHOPADHYAY.

(Portrait of a poem leaning against the bosom)

The entwined warmth,

Yearns for an eternity—

As our lines,

Waltz in Sunlight—

Naked and shy—

In unabashed joy;

And the ‘cold light of Paris’

Jaloux—

Run aground­,

Trying to clothe you.

—Inspired by the 2019 film ‘Curiosa’ directed by Lou Jeunet.

(the picture is a screen-capture from the film re-designed in Adobe CC):

A passionate love story set against a backdrop of sexual freedom, loosely based on the relationship between 19th-century authors Pierre Louÿs and Marie de Régnier.

Stars: Noémie Merlant, Niels Schneider, Benjamin Lavernhe.

The poem, June 21, 2022.

Two copulating ladybirds sprawl on the Taegeuk circle,

Ignorant of its fame—in blissful oblivion;

Oblivious to the scorn of black and white,

And the fifty shades of grey.

I once saw a man boot two stray dogs—

While locked in consummate spell.

A big blind spider stared at me

As I loved myself to an empyrean trance—

And after I came, he still stared at me—

Stone, lone eyes—fixated and sad,

Until I realised—it was delusion;

—or was it?

What is there to uncover—

In a vision of magic?

The meaning burns to ashes

In pulse of levitation—

In desire,

In prayer.

March 2023;

Picture © DYUTIMAN MUKHOPADHYAY.

Shot on November 22, 2022; Bangalore, India.

Camera—Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro.

The courting breeze catches a breath—

Still, she shivers—frozen in time,

I watch her—

And I wait—

For the next tide.

                 —dyutiman mukhopadhyay.

SEE, Photo Essay: TOUCH AND THE RIPPLE

Poem, November 26, 2023; Bangalore, India.

Picture © DYUTIMAN MUKHOPADHYAY