Poetry: A New Yorker Misses Durga Puja and Elsewhere by Amlanjyoti Goswami

Durga Puja is celebrated by Bengalis and Assamese with much colour and fanfare all over the world, with the same spirit as Chinese New Year, Id (Hari raya) or Christmas. It starts this year from the October 4th evening and continues to October 9th. Here are two poems written by Amlanjyoti Goswami for this occasion.

Celebrations in Singapore

Dhaki or drummer

Celebrations in Singapore

Celebrations in Singapore

A New Yorker Misses Durga Puja

I do not miss much

But sometimes

Stopping by the 45^th and 5^th

When my avenues and streets get mixed up

I look up

See towers in steel

Hear the giant rumbling

A little feeling enters me

Like a hotdog crumb between my teeth

And I feel

What they must feel…

The crowd heaving, thunder drums, evening lamps

The goddess with those fiery eyes.

But the moment passes.

I walk on.

A train to catch, a deadline nearing…