Two Poems by Kushal Poddar

 

Photo by Kaddish Polat

Hope Is A Bent Cane

 

“How do you know what you hold

is hope?”

The old man that my father has become 

grasps his cane, forever bent and 

striated with some pale streaks 

flowing through its dark and supple flesh

and straightens his weight lost 

within his loose muscles. “Because,”

he stares at his cane, “whenever 

my shadow comes too near it 

makes some space between us,

and although I know I shall be nothing 

soon you will have this cane and 

memories as an answer to your queries.

 

Love's Dim Rooms

 

The inked walls of their kitchen 

waltz to the beats of the monochrome 

steps of the couple's silhouettes. 

 

You know love when you see it even

from the open window of your apartment.

Theirs, on the other aide of the street 

casts a yellow light, almost liquid gold,

on the traffic below. It dances toward you.

 

The dinner table they set displays too many

bottles and assortment to know what they eat.

Sometimes you worry that they don't eat enough 

and keep the light dim to save on the bill.

This you feel too is love.

© Kushal Poddar

Kushal Poddar has authored ten books, the latest being 'A White Can For The Blind Lane', and his works have been translated into twelve languages, and he has been a sub-editor of Outlook magazine and the editor of Words Surfacing, and he does some illustrations and sketches for various magazines.