THE MUGGER

Resting mugger
Cuddling a rock,
Slightly curved tail
With upright scales -
Lower jaw of
A shark's mouth.

Sunlight to bathe,
Lightning feast.

Winter

Sloping snow land
Down to ice stream
Like gentle slope
Of a white forhead,
Sun in ice crack
An eye of it.

Photos

A gulmohar tree in my neighborhood.

A rock pool in the beach of Chandipur, Orissa, India.

Himalayan foothill.

These photographs have been taken by me ( all the other photographs in this site have been downloaded from the net). I will be away from home for work and I do not know when I will be able to make the next post at this blog. In the meantime enjoy the present posts.

RAIN ON THE WATER

Rain lines, close, slanting
Upon the pond
Like tail bones of fish.
They prick the water
Ovals surround dots,
Breaking, pairs of curves
Like ear rims they form.

Who's prancing on roof
The fishes wonder,
Who's stained its mirror
Guesses peeping sky.

A POEM

BUTTERFLY

The butterfly
Sitting pretty
On flower top
Both wings raised
Colourful crest
On a bird's head.
softly it flies
To buds, flowers
Carrying colours
To more colours
Gently caress
Gentler petals
On each visit
On each bright day.

I've never seen a ribbon lake but I've written this poem from imagination

RIBBON LAKE

From the corrie lakes
Narrow streams flow down
Into ribbon lake
Like many mothers
Bound by umbilical
Cords to single child.

Chillness of glaciers
Its water speaks of,
Grey blue its colour,
Just a green shadow
On its bed and banks.

A Poem

FOREST STORM

Leaves shake, water rise
Once sleepy mirror
The pond - turbulent!
The swimming serpent's
Slithering slim self -
Shifting enhanced waves.

Last gulp of water
Last deer quickly takes,
Hurries deep in green
Along with its mates.
Proud tiger raises
His furious face
Who has roared louder
In his dwelling place?

I poem I wrote after coming back from a trip to the Sunderbans.

Sunderbans is the name given to the mangrove forests of the largest delta region of the world. It is the home of the royal Bengal tigers. It is partly in Bangladesh and partly in India.

A RIVER THROUGH FOREST ISLANDS

At far island edge, bit
Of the bending river
Visible - slight crest
Of redwinged bush lark's head ,
Or seed's curved radicle.

Narrower gets river
Quivering forms of trees
Darkening deep water
Through the shady layers
Muffled voices, not yet
The royal stripes.

A poem I wrote during autumn , last year

BITS OF AUTUMN

Clouds wispy edged -
Silk emanating
From a puffed silkworm.
The stream has no haste
It flows at leisure.

Lake at peace with self ,
For all land creatures
The windows opened
To world within it.

Dews glad to be out
For long in the green
Before being called
Back to sun bright home.

A poem I wrote in summer (2005), a time when we look forward to rain

MONSOON

Nimbo-stratus clouds
Spread across the sky
Like wing of a bird
Each feather of it -
The clouds' each layer.

Softens soil, from seeds
Spring saplings, forests
Back in green, mountain
Rivers regain roar.

Barrier free breathe,
Earth in strange new lights.

Semicircular
Rainbow's seven strips -
Orbits of planet
Partial to eyes.

Nature and Culture

On last Friday I went to visit an exhibition of nature and wildlife photography at The Academy Of Fine Arts. Well known Bengali actor Sabyasachi Chakraborty was among the photographers whose work were being displayed. The exhibition ends today. I also saw some very innovative paintings and sculptures that were being displayed in the adjoining halls.
Yesterday I attended a cultural program held at Sishir Mancha in memory of late Bengali poet Birendra Chattopadhya. The function started with a speech and recitation of his poems. This was followed by poets reading out their own poems in Bengali. Shaoli Mitra Recited poems of Rabindranath Tagore. It was the first time I got the opportunity to hear her recitation and I was enthralled. The event ended with songs sung by Pratul Mukhopadhya who had composed their tunes himself. Some of the songs were based on poet Birendra Chattopadhya's poetry. They were meaningful and unique.

A poem I wrote on August, 2005

A FLOCK OF BIRDS

Evening not faraway,
Long legged birds at water
Edge, in haste with wings stretched
They bend necks, in moments
Two leafed saplings have sprung
Upon river bank place.

Quickly flapping their wings
Masses of them soar high,
White currents in the sky
Can the sea up be met?
Wondering, river looks.

The word amaranth

Amaranth means a flower which never dries. My father's friend asked for the Bengali word for amaranth. My mother seached in the dictionary and the Bengali word happens to be 'parijat'.

A poem I wrote during last year's rainy season

RAIN IN THE COUNTRYSIDE

Grass rise to merge with long
Lines of rain - stalagmites
Of remote cloud dark cave.

Marigold dear to pond
Water as hyacinth,
Birds in forced rest from flight.

This is what Mrs. Sati Chatterjee,retired professor of English of Jadavpur University e-mail-ed to me-

Lahari,
I read your poems.The poems read well, and along with the pictures they evoke the ambience.
I do not wholly accept your comment that poems
appreciating the beauties of nature have gone out of
fashion; I would modify and add that beauties of
nature are now integrated into the other responses in
man's life -- obviously growing in complexity. As a
result nature poetry keeps changing its face, and its
position in our life. Yet nature remains the backdrop,
provides the scaffolding; and our emotion intertwine.
So, do write nature poems, undeterred by changes in
fashion. Fashions wear off, style remains.
.... sati dida

I poem I wrote on a visit to the Himalayan foothills in November, 2004

PEAKS AND SUN

Behind the hard solid
Triangular dark hills
The peaks of snow creamy-
Fins of sharks in the sea
Against foam crested waves.

First rays of rising sun
Soften the jutting rocks
Purple turns the rock brown,
Moving down,glowing red
On sunlit cragginess
Lava gushing,only touch
Can tell they are, but snow.

These photos have been downloaded from

Hello

Though the main objective of this blog will remain unchanged, you can also discuss books, movies, music ,food and intersting places over here.
If anyone is interested in publishing my poems he/she must ask for my permission. I declare that I do not own any of the photographs that will be displayed at this blog. I just browse through the net and download them but I will mention the name of the owner if I know it.

I start with a poem I wrote when I was 15

AS A FLOWER

Cheer you day long with my bright face
My colour bold,name merigold.
My petals nice like folds of lace,
My petals -they are so many
In layers like a stair flight
For climbing down of sunrays.
In first few moments of drizzle
Raindrop trickles down my petals
Like an ideal river in course
Through unevenness and even.
I glow brightly all through the day.
Before I grow dim in the night
I spread my orange to twilight.