Poetry: `Footsteps’ and `Offending Shadow’ by Gopal Lahiri

These poems by Gopal Lahiri are a part of Kitaab Quarterly Vol-1

Footsteps

It was a starless night. So, I will speak the truth because

I am unreal, listen closely

you will hear my footsteps,

on the staircase, on the corridor, on the balcony

beating out slowly, aren’t you scared?

And I’m not done yet

you sit back and look at me

the shadows get bigger on your wall,

there is a long pause, a pensive moment,

the wall clock is replaced by the ghost-head,

my fingers insert shrapnel numbing your spine.

Evening breeze seems to whisper

of something else, some fugitive undercurrent

some other answer or meaning, just out of reach,

shadows shuffling around the hallways

as they rise and recede, you feel panicked

I place my dead hand on yours, seeking a thrill.

©gopallahiri

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Offending Shadow

Today I summon all those sinister, childhood shadows

inside my dark room, 

they follow me everywhere, 

humming calendar songs,

I wash and rinse them, split them with a broad sword,

peel them with a butcher’s knife.

I have to tell my un-finished story 

the long scars roll down the years,

piles of debris

hide the unidentified bodies,

times converge into a flashpoint, into a crimson river.

I trample my reflection in the mirror,

and the sound breaks the cold silence,

the mirror shatters beneath my feet,

a dark image of myself engulfs the glass frame,

And the offending shadow can never leave me.

©gopallahiri

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Author’s Bio

Gopal Lahiri is a bilingual, Kolkata-based poet, critic, editor, writer, and translator with 28 books (18 in English and 10 in Bengali) published, including eight jointly edited books. His poetry is also published across various anthologies as well as in eminent journals of India and abroad. His poems are translated into 17 languages and his works are published in 14 countries. He has participated as a speaker in various literary festivals including the World Congress of Poets, Bhubaneshwar, India, Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival, Times Literary Fest, Kolkata, and attended various Sahitya Akademi events. He has been nominated for Pushcart Prize, US for poetry in 2021. He is the recipient of the Setu Excellence Award, 2020, Pittsburgh, US. His latest collection of poems ‘Alleys are Filled with Future Alphabets.’ has received the Ukiyoto award. He has recently edited an anthology of poems ‘Voices Within’, published by Setu publications, US.

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