Four Replies for Joshua - II
Office, Srāvan
Sailen Routray
 |
| A Sadhu Sitting Inside Pandra Shivalaya Pasupatinath Temple. Kathmandu, Nepal Photo Credit - Sailen Routray |
According
to a cliché birthed by a long burnt Odia poet – Kabita banita, kabi ta pita –
to translate
– the relationship between a poem and the poet is a filial one; the poem being
the daughter. I am a careless father. Some daughters lie shredded in dustbins;
a few have died while lighting thin, reluctant joints; others have taken wing,
and now vegetate inside the covers of mouldy diaries with nuclear-green covers.
But if you have been reading in between these lines you’d know that careless
daughters beget careless fathers. The sins of the progeny are visited upon the
parents. Clichéd, but true.
Note: This poem was first published in the webzine 'Muse India' as part of a larger poetic conversation with Bangalore based writer and poet Joshua Muyiwa.
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Um mm...how I wonder. I get that progeny have agency as I am painfully reminded now and then...I am getting it now, I think even ad I tap this comment out
ReplyDeleteLife is both linear and circular; but perhaps it is more circular than we give it credit for - especially the way agency, cause and effect work out.
DeleteKabita banita.. Kabi taa pita.. perf3ct.. and yeah sin of the progeny indeed is visited upon parents. True in all senses..
ReplyDeleteHope we ourselves are spared the visitations of the sins of our progeny.
DeleteWhy are the joints reluctant? Afraid of the fire, are they?
ReplyDeleteI have no clue. You must ask them directly. I am sure they have a mind of their own.
Delete