“Searchlight” and “Rhododendron Cafe,” Two Poems by Shaswata Gangopadhyay in translation from Bengali by Rajdeep Mukherjee

Searchlight and Rhododendron Cafe 

Two Poems by Shaswata Gangopadhyay, in translation from Bengali 

 

1. Searchlight 

 

‘I am a very rare orchid, truly hard to collect’

saying this, you suddenly vanished like camphor one afternoon

 

I have stood alone, turning into a living fossil

soap bubbles overflow from the letters of the neon board

the moon hangs like a delicate paper lantern stained with blood

as the night grows, the chilling air blows, as if all of Kolkata

is a little secluded hill town in some deserted valley

the hairpin bend is right ahead,

a little far away is the Buddhist monastery

in the carved fruit of the pine forest,

hidden behind the wet leaves of ferns

where are you hiding, that I search and search with a torch

 

I mean a dry-lipped, stubborn, lovesick lover,

a Bengali poem of separation arranged in letterpress fonts…

 

 

2.Rhododendron Cafe

 

A deserted hilly pit, common people say it’s a suicide point

Frozen clouds float layers after layers, beside

There is a cafe, not famous, made out of

Raw woods that emits vapour

 

Here towards afternoon, there’ll be our

Unexpected chance-meeting

Winter sunshine is spread all over, coloured like Dettol

Both of us will be taken by surprise:

There are so many scratchy wrinkles on both of our faces

There’ll be served local wine in bamboo containers,

The husks of yeast and apple causing intoxication

Will gradually ascend upward the head

Like the poison of snake

On every table go on planchettes,

Planchettes of dear poets dead long ago

They are brought down silently

by hooking their souls with a pole,

Night will knock on the lobes of the ear, and here only

 

Our chat will go on face to face in the rest of the life.

 

Translated from Bengali to English by Rajdeep Mukherjee

 

Shaswata Gangopadhyay is one of the Prominent faces of Contemporary Bengali Poetry, who started writing in Mid 90s. Shaswata’s poems have been published in all major Bengali Poetry journals. Shaswata has participated in different International poetry festivals of Europe and Both North and Latin America. His poems have been published in all six continents in more than 150 International Journals and Anthologies through translations in 7-8 languages. His book of Poems are: Inhabitant of Pluto Planet (2001), Offspring of Monster (2009), Holes of Red Crabs (2015), In the city of myth and mushroom (2023) and Poems of Shaswata Gangopadhyay (2023). He has also been invited to read his poems in UK, USA, France, Australia, South Africa, Colombia and Portugal Virtual Book Fair. He has been invited to Paris, Vienna and Frankfurt to read his poems. Very recently he has received ‘Sparkling Soul Award’ from Chile, Latin America. This year, He was invited to Prestigious ‘Gateway Lit Fest’ in  Mumbai to read his poems.