Every riverbank has its own story, like us,
some are funny, some are serious like
one’s own truth, one’s own freedom,
reflects in the ebbing and flowing of the river.
History lies in customs, in words, in trades,
imaginaries evoked by the stream, in noises and
silences, in absence and in voids converting them
into narratives of consensus and dissent.
The yellow oleander tree stands muted on the
riverbank; it speaks in silent voice, an attempt
to recover vulnerable, mutilated, mutable stores
to blend fables with magic, myth and fantasy.
You peel the sun-scraped petals, funneled lights,
noticing how the flowers spool past in yellow cups.
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Gopal Lahiri
@gopallahiri
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Gopal Lahiri is a bilingual poet, critic, editor, writer and translator with 33 books published, including eight solo/jointly edited books. His poetry and prose are published across more than one hundred journals and anthologies globally His poems are translated in 18 languages and published in 19 countries. He has been nominated for Pushcart Prize for poetry in 2021 and Best of the Nets for poetry in 2025. His ‘Selected Poems’ was published by Classix, New Delhi. His recent book ‘Wasp and Filament ‘ was published by Hogg Press, Madison, US.
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