Poems — Utpal Deka

Jan 25, 2025 | Poetry | 0 comments

TRANSLATED FROM THE ASSAMESE BY NIRENDRA NATH THAKURIA

 

1. Corporate Game
 
A world inside a skull
Without specs it is seen
a strange world
 
The game we played didn’t end
 
Behind the ads printed in large font
are sticking drops of water
the life of investment
 
Sucking blood is our creed
 

The children grown up in the bones
of exploiters and rulers
cry in hunger

The game of morsel snatching
from the mouths of others for fun
is interesting


 
2. December
 
The stars chat about
the dreams of moonlight
 
At the dreamy dusks of Jerusalem
Mariam keeps waiting for the stars
 
Now it’s December
Ripping the wintry fog
the chilly gusts of wind
shake the heart
of the Khasi hills
 

Lights of peace and carols of love
lead me to the crucified trees  

Santa Claus waves to me
and says Merry Christmas


 
3. River Tale
 
Each time I come face to face
 
Whenever I get back
I open
a door in me
and come in
 
I look for
my speech
That is buried
for ages

 
4. Frame
 
Everyone comes back
one day to themselves
 
easily forgets
the well-designed pictures
the relationship lost during the prime of life
 
Not offending the lot
revive yourself
in someone’s eye

The life’s tale gets lost
in the jostle of tales

like the sky
like the rain
like the whiff of cigarette smoke

Warped by anguished conflicts
time speaks
like a picture


 
5. Malkosh
 
Like a musical note
a weaver bird sings
Kapiliparia Sadhu
 
I’ve listened to
every note of silence
 
The song sung at noon
What else is there without it
 
The words get lost entangled
in some corner of oblivion
 

Maybe I’ll never find them
among the familiar voices of the past


Also, read Potluck by Omkar Gupta , translated from the Bengali by Manjira Majumdar, and published in The Antonym.

Potluck — Omkar Gupta


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About Author

Utpal Deka

Utpal Deka

Utpal Deka is  a bilingual poet and  writes in Assamese and Hindi.  Kangjin Botahar Japana Khola Sabdabor and Bibhramar Shekhot are his Assamese poetry collections, and Alfaz, a collection of his Hindi poetry. He has translated Neel Prajapati, an Assamese novel written by Anuradha Sarma Pujari, into Hindi. His poems have been published in leading magazines like Satsori, Gariyasshi, Prakash, and Samakalin Bharatiya Sahitya, published by Sahitya Akademi. Deka’s poems have been translated into English, Hindi, Bodo, Punjabi and Tamil.

About Translator

Nirendra Nath Thakuria

Nirendra Nath Thakuria

Nirendra Nath Thakuria  translates Assamese poetry into English. He has, to his credit, four collections of English translations – Seven Days (selected poems of Sameer Tanti), Tug At The  Gillnet (selected poems of Bijoy Sankar Barman) and Sprout Leaves Quicken (selected poems of Anis Uz Zaman) and Selected Poems of Nilmani Phookan (in collaboration with Binod Gogoi, who contributed the Spanish translations).  Thakuria’s English translations of Assamese poems have appeared in many reputed literary journals. His literary contributions have been included in The Oxford Anthology Writings From North East India – Poetry and Essays, OUP; and Dancing Earth, An Anthology of Poetry from North-East India, Penguin Books. His renderings of Dr. Bhupen Hazarika‘s three dozen popular Assamese songs into English have been included in Dr. Bhupen Hazarika: A Legend.

  1. Can you please cite the original poem ? Where to find it in Bangla?

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