by Sonnet Mondal

Sheets of a calendar fell in front of my feet  

from the wall hooks 

of a short childhood and long memories, 

flapping in wind, as if lifting arms 

in an appeal to save them from oblivion.   

Further above on the wall — 

a cardboard with a photo of four wild horses  

and another with two tigers  

haven’t yet changed their places. 

They took me across sands where 

I lie as a thorn detached from a cactus  

without any hedge nearby  

to hide from a lurking nostalgia. 

I have chosen to live through mirages of promises. 

Heat shimmers in the path. 

I will have to rest in my own shadow’s shade 

and then walk a bit further.  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sonnet Mondal writes from Kolkata, and is the author of Karmic Chanting (Copper Coin 2018) and Ink and Line (Dhauli Books 2018). He has read at literary festivals in Macedonia, Ireland, Turkey, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Germany, Italy, Ukraine, Hungary, and Slovakia. His writings have appeared in publications across Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia. The Founder and director of Chair Poetry Evenings, Kolkata’s International Poetry Festival, Mondal edits the Indian section of Lyrikline (Haus für Poesie, Berlin) and serves as editor in chief of Verseville. He has been a guest editor for Words Without Borders, New York, and Poetry at Sangam, India. His works have been translated into Hindi, Italian, Chinese, Turkish, Slovak, Macedonian, French, Russian, Slovenian, Ukrainian, Hungarian, and Arabic.