Where the wilderness is now, a house once was

Look there— where the branches are twisted
Together like arms of a contortionist
You’d think it was the shade of
Two trees instead of one
Until you look closer and follow the roots
Right there— at the towering branches 
Was a window and a boy looked out of it.
His life passes now. Time washes over youth.
And it has cut a canyon through his heart
Which deepens year after year.
Soon the water will disappear into the ground
And time will wash his youth away.
Over there— across the prairie you can also count
One, two, perhaps, three trees he used to climb 
Walk there—
And you can ask each leaf and blade of grass
On the way home 
To tell you his name.  




A Love Poem

After John Ashbery

And they were right to have said it.
We just need a little love, and when the little 
Things fall as soft, salt, sobs on your lips 
Does it taste, how it does, at the start 
Of a kiss? (Maybe not the first, but surely the last) 
They say, you think each time it happens 

Again and again, how it thrills the twist 
And turn of your thoughts, how it reflects 
In long hmms and self- neurosis. Considering this 
And that, slowly probing the what ifs and nots.
There is no escape for me, from it. I think 
I mean, the thought of you—
 
With me is so quite a new dream, is 
Itself the night and the body and the 
Body in the night, the dreaming of you;
Intimate as a touch which I feel 
As it feels me, this is how it works 
Just like this, very see-saw like. 




Note for the previous tenant 

Thank you for the things disowned: 
The roll of toilet paper, the bar of soap
The straw-broom and the floor mop. 

I tried to scrub the floor clean as a face!
Found it to be undoable,
And realised you had tried, too. 

The landlord says you lived here
For years. But nobody had seen your face. 
You were like a stranger’s name read from 

An envelope. Like those birthdates of people 
Carved on park benches and trees, who I know 
So little about as do I of my own past. 

So, the black hair in the sink
Gives a clue to… what? Were you 
A man or woman? The question persists… what?

This handprint on the knob. Whose is it?
Did someone sit outside the door, 
Waiting for you to return from work.

Made the bed. Then dreamt next to you.
Only to wake in the night and say—
“But dear, I’m not sleepy at all” 

How often did you dance on the floor?
The place was done and broomed. Your life
As it were, a sudden wind that had swept away. 



September

The day we discovered love was the
The day it had also been there all along,
Waiting to be noticed in the background we
Recede into so heedlessly. In Delhi, everything 
And everyone is moving in the same direction. 
Notice, how the streets are overfull with people;
But their eyes are empty like tea cups.

In bookstores, like nascent flowers on wet days
Pages open with the thrill of new beginnings 
But in the gardens, we’ve got the butterflies 
Going at it; dancing in courtship before 

Our eyes like kissing teenagers 
In teeming metros, unembarrassed by PDA.
It must be autumn then, when what woos our 
Keatsian heart is in the air which consumes us with… what? 
What was it again… beauty? To rebreathe life 
Into what once was touched and identified here  

Before it went to cold sleep under a rock.
Too much with lovers and too little with love—
The world gives us just as much as one does to a beggar.
Here, take it. Now, go away. How much time until 
We find our other half is hard to say but, instant as 
The camera’s shutter when it imprisons reality 
Is how instant we’re going to have to capture the present.

As the canopy of overhanging trees reddens into the eye
Of a setting sun. A new season writes itself in the rain
Reminding us -life is ever wheeling, faster and faster 
With the air which stirs our world like memory. 
Like the future. Like history.

The Atolls

The atolls spaced on the ocean
Beautifully caught by the eyes in the soft morning light
How wonderfully decorated they are!
Especially the ring-shaped reefs, my love
Hovering all over the earth I enter into my home to rest and make love
The coral reefs bound tight by the ocean
Calls you and me to sleep in touch all through the night
The heart always falls on
I know you never let the time to go in vain
Hanging in love 
As the atolls stand on ---- so strong 
We must sing all through life with the music of the waves in the moonlit ocean.  


Chapainawabganj, Bangladesh
30/07//2022

What does the word love
                    Really mean?
Is it only a wishful
                    Dream?
Is love two people sharing
                    Their lives
Together, forever as Husband
                     And wife?
Is love a promise we
                     Make,
A promise we should
                     Never break?
A promise to only be
                     With each other,
A promise their will
                     Be no other?
Is love a feeling
                     Or thought?
Or is it just something
                     We all want?
Is love a choice
                      We make?
Or is it a chance
                      We take?
Is love good or is
                     Love bad?
Does love make you 
                     Happy or sad?
Is love a simple touch that
                     Gives you chills?
Or a beating heart that 
                     Won't be still?
Could love be a gently kiss so
                      Passionately on the lips?
Does love hurts, does
                      Love cry?
Is it love when you 
                      Tears won't dry?
Can we love once? Can we
                      Love twice?
Or does true love happen 
                      Only once in life?


Is love real?
Can love forgive?
Can love heal?

I know love is real.
                     Because of pain,
I know now true love feels. 
When nothing hurts worse
                      Than it,
You, too, will know love exists.....

Once upon a time, a cat lived under a tree. The tree was the river side. It was a big mango tree. It was totally black. Many years ago it was grown here. It had given a lot of delicious juicy fruits to the people. People tested and enjoyed its juicy fruit. 

One day the cat came to live here. When the cat came and saw a lot of ripe and colorful fruits was in the tree. It wandered to see beautiful fruit. At first sight cat fell in love of those fruits. Suddenly a dog passed the place. Dog couldn’t see the cat but cat saw. Cat closed his eyes and waited fairly long time for the happening. The dog passed away, the cat thought. 

Cat opened his eyes slowly, spoke loudly and sprang quickly on the mango tree, because the dog stood in front it. The dog said, “Why do you spring on the tree? I’m your friend, don’t you know me?” 

Cat replied that you were not my friend, the relation between you and me was hunted and hunter only. Clever dog said to the cat that he was not an enemy. He also said, "When you were on the tree and the tree was full of ripe juicy fruits, you could give me some. We enjoyed them together. Sorry my cruel friend, I couldn’t do it for you, because I tried them, they were now sour." 

The dog looked tense and annoyed. 

"It didn’t matter, I liked sour, my mother gave me sour fruit in my childhood, you were with me, I enjoyed it very much. " 

Cat spoke wisely. "You are no friend, I never did anything wrong to you. I had a bitter experience, it was many years ago. I and my family lived in a village. I had two sisters and a brother, my sisters were older. One day a wounded dog came to our house. It said, "Help me and save me!" Mom didn’t want to help, but my soft hearted sisters wanted to help it. 

They said that dogs were our enemy, but this one was wounded. So it was our moral duty to nurse it. Mom couldn’t say anything except O.K. My sisters nursed and treated it. We got the dog out of danger and it came around soon. We were all happy and the dog stayed there continuously. It became our friend day by day. 

But one day my parents and brother went outside. Suddenly I heard a dangerous deadly sound, saw a heart rending sight. The dog killed my beautiful sisters. Would have killed me, but it couldn't find me.  Now I had lost my family and also my house. It’s happened because of your species. So I don't believe you! I hate you!"

The dog was ashamed and went away.

Riya and Tamal were very good friends. They both liked each other. Thus at one time they got involved in a relationship. They went to college together. Both of them were very brilliant students, the most brilliant students in their college. The results they achieved in the exam no other student could ever reach. They used to travel after finishing college. They used to visit different places every day. 

Sometimes they used to visit the children's park, sometimes meet on the bridge, sometimes get together at historical places. They thus became close to each other. They start getting to know each other. Riya was from a very wealthy family, but Tamal was not from that good a family. Tamal's family was only a middle class family. Over time they told each other a lot more about each other. 

One day Tamal said to Riya, "Riya, you will never leave me." Riya replied, "I love you so much Tamal. If need be you and I will die together." But it was only in their imagination, it was never going to come true. 

Their closeness could not be tolerated by their friend Kabir. He also liked Riya, but Riya did not like him. Riya was proposed to by Kabir one day, but Riya did not accept. 

Kabir followed them for days. Wherever they went, whatever they did, Kabir was taking pictures of them on his mobile phone. He also tried to find out what Riya and Tamal were talking about on their messenger apps. He decided to hack Tamal's Messenger ID. 

On the other hand, Tamal and Riya were unaware of this.  They went around as usual and Kabir followed them everyday. Kabir came to a decision one day that he would send their daily pictures to Tamal's messenger. Kabir sent the pictures to Tamal's messenger. When Tamal was looking at the pictures, Riya was with him. Riya said, "Tamal you take our pictures every day. You're doing this, right?" 

Tamal then said, "No, why should I take pictures? Kabir just sent me the pictures." Riya sees that indeed Kabir has sent all these pictures. Next day, after going to class, Riya said to Kabir, "Why are you taking our daily pictures, Kabir? I said I don't like you. Why are you not leaving me alone?" 

Then Kabir said to Riya, "Don't you know this Riya? Tamal asked me to take your picture. He used to pay me every day for that." Riya sat with her hands on her head. She didn't understand anything. 

Kabir said, "Why do you like Tamal? He's using you. He doesn't like you from his heart. He made your pictures go viral, because he will ruin your honor, he took the picture with me." Hearing this, Riya got angry and left there and did not go around with Tamal that day. 

Meanwhile, Tamal knew nothing about this. The next day, Tamal came to the college and said to Riya, "Hey Riya, why didn't you come with me today? You come with me every day. And even yesterday you didn't go for a walk with me. What happened to you?" 

Then Riya said to him, "You are not ashamed to tell me these things. You are a great big bastard. You played around with me!" 
"What are you talking about Riya?" said Tamal. 
Riya said, "I'm right. You don't like me, right? You should have said it earlier. I wouldn't go around with you anymore. You played love with me. In the name of love, you wrapped me in your magic. What do you want?" Money want money!" 

Tamal was shocked to hear Riya's words. He said to Riya, "Why are you talking so much, Riya?" 

Riya said, "I'm right, you paid Kabir to take these pictures, right?" 

Meanwhile, Kabir was trying to hack Tamal's ID. Kabir hacked Tamal's ID with the help of a hacker. Meanwhile, Tamal and Riya continued to talk. His friends started saying to them, "What are you seeing here, Riya, what are you doing, Tamal?" Then Tamal realized that these were Kabir's actions. 

But Riya was shocked to see the screenshot of the chat on Messenger! She gave Tamal a firm slap on the cheek. To Tamal she said, "Finally Kabir is right. You have finally ruined my honor." 

Tamal was shocked and said, "No, Riya I didn't do this." 

But Riya didn't believe Tamal. Tamal went home from there. Meanwhile, Riya broke down. She was being scolded by her relatives, her friends were shaming her, she couldn't bear it all. 

A few days later, Kabir proposed to Riya. Riya was surprised and said, "I already told you that I don't like you. And you and your friend did such a bad thing to me. How do you think I will like you?" 

Then Kabir said to Riya, "You have to make a choice. When I can hack Tamal's ID for you, ignite your heart against Tamal, then I can make you fall in love." 

Riya said, "What, you hacked Tamal's ID and made my pictures went viral?" 

Riya returned home crying without standing there for a minute because he did not apologize. Then she called Tamal and said she would talk to him. 

Riya apologized to Tamal in the afternoon. She said, "Tamal, it was my mistake. I misunderstood you. I thought you shamed me, I'm sorry Tamal."

Tamal remained silent. After some time he said, "I can forgive you on one condition. I must love you as before, then." 

Riya said with a smile, "Of course, Tamal. I will love you as before." Then they both joined hands and stopped as before. 

Meanwhile, Kabir could not accept this at all. When Tamal and Riya were returning home, Kabir with his friends stood in their way and said, "You love Riya a lot don't you. When Riya is not mine, she can't be anyone's!" and shot Riya. 

Riya fell on the ground. Tamal was then shocked. Tamal picked up Riya and said he will take her to the hospital. But Kabir and his friends did not let him go. They surrounded the road. They were smiling shamelessly. 

By then Riya had accepted death, before saying just one word, "I love you Tamal. Be well."

Wrappings in Bespoke, by Sanjeev Sethi, stirs up a heady brew of thoughts and elegant language. 

The very first piece, "Snatch of Schooldays" relates memories of riding the bus to school as a young child. Our protagonist "snakes his way ... contiguous to the leadfoot" to find entertaining classmates as he boards. Written in elevated grown-up language, this piece sets a tone for the collection. The bus is a repurposed military vehicle not originally made to transport children, yet the protagonist finds his way aboard. 

In a similar way, other protagonists in this book find their way into and through spaces that seem not made for them, where they must figure out how to fit. The most notable of these is older age, a stage of life that challenges the poetic speakers on different levels. Several pieces, including "Junior" and "Practitioner" explore the self-perception of aging people and the tension between the joy of accumulated intellectual insight and concern over weakening physical bodies and waning energy. 

Thought, reading, writing, and academic study also loom large in Wrappings in Bespoke. Pieces such as "Movement" and "Selfdom" reflect this, and other pieces ("Avoirdupois" and "Navigation") speak of people connecting to each other (or not) in personal relationships through the language of study and research. Some pieces bring an almost mystical tone to the celebration of the intellect, such as "Leave-Taking," which references horology while discussing the fine social art of the good-bye. 

While rarefied in tone, Wrappings is not without humor. "In Twos" mentions corporate employees joking with each other about hearing their bosses "let it rip." Some of the older age pieces present the physicality of aging in direct and amusing ways. 

While some pieces will require careful re-readings, Sanjeev Sethi's newest collection is not unreadable and will be enjoyable for many people. 

Sanjeev Sethi’s Wrappings in Bespoke is available here from Hedgehog Press.

THE WITHERING LOTUS

Our friendship was unique, kind and loyal
everyone wanted to mimic us
Friends from our childhood
We've been wining and dining as brotherhood.

We would dart into a dungeon together, 
We would fight for freedom & success
We supported each other like rhizobia and legumes
To fix our lives to this stage

Climbing each stairs, clearing each steps; 
We would laugh, and lay each other's
problems, to be shared and solved.
But, how come? We're now dissolved
I thought our bond was bound to eternity
But, he's blinded with money and disloyalty grows

He is greedy for gathering money
And we strove to secure it until our success
But he's a snake spitting out white saliva  full of spites.

Our stunning friendship like the moon and stars
has dimmed and quenched
Our white lotus was withering and yellowing
Our pure friendship ended with stain.