By: Soumyanetra Munshi
Suppose the rose didn’t want to be red
All it wanted was to remain bland, white
Unadorned by love and beauty
How do we know that every rose
Wants to be red?
Maybe they don’t…
This one didn’t…
Every word that made her blush
The thought of his smell and caress
The memory of his words and look
Every touch of the night air
That brought his whiff
Across lakes and starry nights
Across red skies and hidden moons
Across sleepless desires
And soft solitary pillows
And drenched her in him
Had reddened her…
Had filled her up with colours
And joy and dreams
And passion and laughter…
But memory lacks colour
She feels pale within
And the bright red, remained
An assault on her privacy
On her desire to be left alone
On the shreds of love that once was…
Do roses not have
The right to be wrong?
To un-rose herself?
To look blanched and
Bereft of all rosiness?
Not once?
The right to shed all the glamour
And promises and passions
That brought lovers and dreamers
On their knees
Begging for a bit of its enticing
Enchantments…
Not today… let her for once
Not adorn crowns and bouquets
And gala receptions
And marital vows
Let my rose… rebel.
Both the poems, Rose that rebels by Soumyanetra Munshi and The Toxic Tale by Kunal Roy hide bleeding wounds. While the first one is distinctly invaded by anthropomorphism the second one carries a journalistic trait. Both are good thought provoking poems.
Supriyo Chkraborty’s critique of Vast Akash is like an abstract carrying the core of the book leaving a call at every turn for the poetry lovers interested in contemporary culture for further venture into the scene.