Few words and a starting line You’re not a poet Using commas, abusing aroma You’re not a poet Trying to rhyme with words that don’t align You’re not a poet Forget rhymes, putting emphasis on life You’re not a poet Using abstract rigid words as an idiom You’re not a poet Philosophical pondering, meaning lost …
Love’s Fading
Thirty minutes to midnight And he approached me, steadily with tired bare feet, Spotlighted by the full moon; He was wearing a white shirt, Top two buttons missing, Unwashed for at least a month or so, Fashionably knee-cut faded jeans, However, the cuts resemble Years of capitalist abuse; His eyes were intriguing, With his iris …
Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain — a pioneer of women’s education who strove for a feminist utopia
Where are the men?’ I asked her. ‘In their proper places, where they ought to be… We shut our men indoors.’ Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain’s seminal science fiction short story ‘Sultana’s Dream’ depicted a feminist utopia, and was one of the first fictional works in India to do so. However, it never really received the fame and recognition that …
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The Piss Song
I made love at war sites.At Hiroshima, at Nanjing, at DhakaI ran through blood and the fresh paints.I sang through the cracks of the new buildings,Caressed the strong, high monuments as they were raised. One woman smirked,“You can’t do it like that,You have to sit on it,and please!” One man stared,“You go girl,Undo yourself,Let not …
Shifting the Focus From Sylvia Plath’s Tragic Death to Her Brilliant Life
RED COMETThe Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia PlathBy Heather Clark What becomes a legend most? As suggested by the old black-and-white Blackglama fur ads, featuring Lena Horne, Diana Vreeland and Cher, among others, legends are people who have soared beyond fame or celebrity into a more rarefied, inaccessible stratosphere. Today’s media-fixated, Kardashian-dominated world …
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Azadi by Arundhati Roy review – at her passionate best
The author tackles Kashmir, Hindu nationalism and the dangers of being outspoken in this startling collection of essays Arundhati Roy’s literary career has been one of a kind. Thrust into the limelight of the global publishing industry back in 1997 when her debut novel, The God of Small Things, won an advance of half a …
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সন্ধ্যাবেলার ব্রায়ান্ট পার্ক
ফ্লাডলাইটের আলো পেছনে ও মাথার উপরে যেখানটায় আমি বসে আছি আমার পাবলিক চেয়ারে।ধীরে ধীরে অন্ধকার হয়ে আসা লনটাও এখন আলোকিত। লাইব্রেরির জানালাগুলো তাকিয়ে আছে। আমি একা এই ভিড়ের মাঝে- এ প্লুরিবাস প্লুর্স। পরিবার থেকে অনেক দূরে, তাদের কথা স্মরণে আসে।আমি প্রায়ই বলতে যাচ্ছিলাম আমি নিঃসঙ্গ, কিন্তু নিঃসঙ্গতা, আমার মনে পড়ে, আরও খারাপ কিছু এর …
Jimmy Hoffa Is In Bangladesh
They found Jimmy Hoffa,Halfway around the world, in Bangladesh;White saviour dispatched to stop aProud civilisation from becoming a mess.Magically reappeared, off to his address –He was put in a CNG, or on a bus,Maybe on a truck loaded with fish?At least he was not sleeping with them!Not enough formalin in all of BangladeshTo bring a …
প্যারিস
আমি আজ কি লিখবো ? কি ই বা লিখার আছে বলুনতো ? কে ই বা শুনবে কথা ? আমি তো জেরুজালেমের বিরুদ্ধে বলবো ? আধুনিক এসাইলাম-সিকার গোষ্ঠি আবার তা নিতে পারে না । যারা মানবতার দূত, শালা স্বৈরাচার এরশাদও তো দূতই ! কেবল পার্থক্য- তারা তো ২৩০ ডলার ভাতা পায় ! আমিতো বুর্জোয়াবাদের বিরুদ্ধে বলবো। …
A Garden Full of Love
A heavy lower jawand a burning heart has convincedyou you’re a dragonFree to lift up my roofa hundred feet and light it intoa bright red cloudFrom which soot,black as intent,falls with a little bit of abandon and a littlebit of indecision.The floor is revolting likethe sky—they have each otherwhy need I be sorry?When you moved …