Poems by Ronica (Bhattacharya) Dhar

Aug 21, 2021 | Poetry | 0 comments

Artistic Vision

I’m going to rewrite my DNA code
In a lyrical mode

All ear worm songs and poetry

Words arranged so cleverly
From just the letters A, C, G and T

One theme, somehow, will be
How a common fruit fly shares sixty percent
Of common, myopic me

__

Papillon du Jour

Vois-là, papillon
Tu es comme une avion
À la lune, allons!

(Butterfly of the Day

Look there, butterfly
You are like an aeroplane
To the moon, let’s go!)

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Song of the Scorpions

Where there may be less stinging
There is all the more singing
For nobody ever loved us like this
When we were alive and kicking

We never knew at that time
The touch of a woman’s untrembling hands
Nor just how much a long soak in water can accomplish

To be pliable again is no small victory
Same for stretching out again all over the sand
It’s been a while—see,

We used to feel sensations everywhere
In each of our hairs
And all through those legs, those claws
Not to mention those stingers

Misunderstanding lingers
Memories of many venomous dinners, we suppose.

But if, in the end, we are all vulnerable
Then why should we care what is strong?
Sometimes we can’t love each other for long
Sometimes our love goes on and on.

Look at us past the fact that we’re deceased
And make your peace:

The life we catch is going to be released.

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Accompanying Artwork is also by the poet.

About Author

Ronica (Bhattacharya) Dhar is a writer, educator and amateur letterpress printer working in Detroit, Michigan, USA.  She authored two novels inspired largely by her Bengali and Kashmiri heritage: BIJOU ROY (St. Martin’s Press) and the recently completed NONAH IN SEARCH OF NIRVANA. Her poems and short stories have appeared in various publications, and she holds degrees in English and Creative Writing from the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan. Currently preoccupied thinking about fiction and printmaking as forms of resistance and trauma therapy.

About Translator

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

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