Two Poems by Dushyant Roy from India
1. The Ghost in Her Room
She’s been inviting me to her place,
Now I spend my time counting the days.
We talk over the phone almost all the time,
But she talks to someone else during her nights.
When she’s alone, she has all the fun,
I don’t know why but she has a gun.
She asked me, “Why don’t you come over hon’?”,
I gave her an excuse but couldn’t make the run.
I asked her, “Who do you talk to? Are you on ‘shrooms?”.
She laughed and said no, it’s just the ghost in her room.
You’re funny, I said.
But it’s true, she said.
Then she showed me her gun with a silver bullet,
And asked me to play a game of Russian Roulette.
I ask her again, “Don’t be silly, are you on ‘shrooms?”
“No! I play it all the time with the ghost in my room.”
Now I’m wondering if it’s hallucinations,
Is she in need of some medications!!?
Then I hear, “Oh!! It’s not the ‘shrooms.”
It’s the voice of the ghost in her room.
2.Trees, Roofs and Balconies.
There he is, that kid’s climbing that tree again.
He says he can see half of the town and even the far away train.
He’s climbing to the top, there’s no stopping him.
Standing high and tall…
He watches over everyone like a hero and says it’s his dream.
He’s a kid after all…
There she is, smoking her cigarette on her balcony.
Clutching onto the night, its unoccupied streets and flickering lights…
Like her heart, unoccupied by the love she yearns for but by wavering flames, unsteady.
She has busy days but these are lonely nights…
Living with a broken heart,
She thinks her life’s an art.
There they are, blasting music on the roof,
With no regard to the neighborhood.
Someone’s standing alone and staring at the sky…
One joins, now they’re both standing aloof.
Detached, high and into the wild for a while…
Wait! Hey! From earth to space, come back, there’s still more booze.
Bio of the Poet: Dushyant Roy hails from Assam India. He did his Higher Secondary education from Cotton College (now Cotton University), Guwahati, Assam.