KNOT Magazine
Fall Issue 2022
Sonnet Mondal
Blue Collar Twister
Sweat tries to swim upwards through the hairs
of a labourer building the statue of the herald
but fails and falls in the soil sucked up by heat,
vanishes as a struggling animal in quicksand;
Dreams drain and entity turns into fossils as slippers
walk over it.
His weapons are a chisel and spade;
He lifts them to protest but vacuum wailing in the curves
of his muscles makes it fall again on the mummified ground;
just to dig, dig the ground for
the Herald's statue must stand firm
or his existence will be buried under its
falling weight.
Toils will evaporate with the smile of the moon.
The dawn will hear sounds again-
sounds of iron striking against rocks.
The air waits to weave those sounds
and strike a twister with them-
Tall enough for the world to see
bold enough to step over mountains
Clear enough to show the waving hands
begging a day out of slavery.
Poverty of screams
In the tattered parts of the hand woven fibres
naked poverty of screams
amid roaring drunk waves of wine bottles
whirling in synthesis with partying proverbs
echoes against posthumous walls
to add the colors to a faded terrain
sipping dripping sweats of a dead beat life
which has spent decades to get up from work
to smile at the gone days.
Foliage and twigs rejuvenate themselves
with the waters discarded out of the musical chair game
with splashing music dying out
in swimming strokes of fatigued hands.
Each day swimming fog blurs smiles
Crawling clouds dance with tears
and changing seasons paint poignant outbursts
yet the little life left in some corner
takes a swing in the estate
where a Rolls-Royce warms up each evening
and Rolexes add motion to stillness.
My Chained Faith
The far-flung whistle of the colliery
and of the Calcutta-mail
calls me every day after dinner.
The train’s shrill echo and
rhythmic melody of wheels
form a sublime image of
the girl out of my dreams,
waving and smiling,
screaming and crying,
standing and waiting
just for me amidst grasses,
trees and hedges that wave
in solitude and hope.
The curvature of the lopsided land
plays hide and seek along with
the clouds and moon blurring realism.
My belief is incurable and so is
the facade of pleasure that I show
while I follow compellingly
the whistle of the colliery.
Enigmatic Winds
Enigmatic winds
curl up into fragments of breezes
drilling into the death of winter
embracing the hologram of breathing sand.
River beds,
as they embark
upon the edges of southern winds
and Conifers scream their complaints from the north,
focus of life desolately oscillates
as a beacon from light houses
with paws of the carrier Griffin
proceeding in the shades,
improvising posthumous caveats
popping up as robot heads of night guards.
Pages of an expedition
crumble beneath old pirate-ships
(roaming in a nomadic famine struck by avarice)
fall in and spread again
upon the cushion of rootless waters
led by enigmatic winds
in unfolded folds of untold tales.
Unusual Shiver in Winter Days
She was a creeping winter,
coiling and settling into the wardrobe
of my lined collections-
of cassettes and clothes
(Scattered in a bachelor’s room)
Suits arranged by brands
fragranced by sensuous nights
brought by you molded me
into a gentleman
below uncombed hairs
and unwashed hands.
I was into lessons to be clean
while
I was feeding on my love.
From a scrappy life
beside a pond
abound with weeping cranes
she was the only fish
in front of my hungry beaks.
Short-lived and destructive
as most pleasures are
I am wedged back
back into an untidy shiver
from an act worthy of no mercy.
Sonnet Mondal is the founder of The Enchanting Verses Literary Review. He has authored eight collections of poetry. His recent works have appeared in The Sheepshead Review, Nth Position, Fox Chase Review, The Penguin Review, Two Thirds North & California State Poetry Quarterly to name a few.
National Record holder as the first Indian poet to pen a new type of Sonnet poetry, Sonnet Mondal is the founder of The Enchanting Verses Literary Review and has over 200 international literary publications to his credit. A multiple time international award winner, Sonnet is among the very few Indians who have been featured in Stremez(Macedonia), The Sheepshead Review(USA), Nth Position(U.K.), Fox Chase Review(USA), The Penguin Review(USA), Two Thirds North(Sweden) & California State Poetry Quarterly(USA).