Poltergeists
Poems whispered in his mind Like poltergeists In the dead of night, Playful shapes which peeped at him From the crevices between thoughts random, And ran off when he pursued them, Chuckling in glee. As if he could not see Or hear their teasing colloquy. He lay awake, hoping to trap At least one in his net of thought. Troubled spirits which did him haunt. Was he hearing voices? Slowly, but surely turning mad? Or were the noises Simply the concatenations Of creativity, challenging him To make sense of the din? Restless imps, they did not Give him peace, lest he gave up the chase Dooming them to whispering apocrypha.
Nest of Nostalgia
With a half-finished poem you have, at least, a few lines to fall back on, that churning in the blood, remnants of a reverie cut off in flood, a place to go back to when most roots have withered, a home in welcoming words, a partially explored road, mysterious in its promise of an eventual destination. You can take up from where you left off, or even begin anew at a tangent, like a newly-sprouted stem in search of its own sun. You have at least, a few lines to fall back on, to call your own so that you may negotiate from your nest in nostalgia a route beyond routine to new myths and maps. Does this journey signify the return to a beginning, or the beginning of a return in the gap between motion and stasis, the distance between desert and oasis?
Dr. Ajanta Paul is an academic based in Kolkata who writes poetry, short stories and literary criticism. Ajanta’s work has been published in literary journals including Spadina Literary Review, The Pangolin Review, Shot Glass Journal, Poetic Sun, Verse-Virtual. Lothlorien Poetry Journal, The Pine Cone Review, The Bombay Review and The Statesman. A Pushcart nominee, Ajanta has published several books including a collection of short stories: The Elixir Maker and Other Stories (Authorspress, New Delhi, 2019).
The Pine Cone Review 