Debarati’s verse is about the changing contours of her city and an accompanying sadness – exclusively for Different Truths.

My city has metamorphosed over the years
Turning into a post-modern hyperspace
Bereft of antiquity and the feeling of affinity.
The lanes which were filled with the fragrance of
Childhood is no longer perceptible.
The Sepia-hued memories have been lost amidst
The crevices of an unfathomable silence.
I yearn for my city like Joyce yearned for Dublin.
My thoughts masquerade through the old alleys
Greeting me from deserted corners
That is lost in oblivion.
The dilapidated green building at the crossroads
Salvaged the strands of my defacing childhood memories.
This meta-modern city is gradually
Scavenging onto my joviality
Gapping the fissures of a Sisyphean existence
The dreamless ruins
Sleep in barrenness
The nomenclature of the city has changed
And so has its verisimilitude.
This city tires me now
Leaves me gasping for quixotism in this forlorn place.

Picture design by Anumita Roy

Debarati Sen

Debarati Sen, an award-winning poet from Kolkata, published two solo poetry collections and contributed to more than 10 anthologies. She has recently made it to the top 50 poets in the NaPoWriMo 2023 writing challenge, and her poem, ‘Maple Dreams’, has been selected for the Yearbook 2022 to be published by Hawakal Publishers. Her haiku have been published in Haikuniverse, Five Fleas, Scarlet Dragonfly Journal, Suspect Device, Pan Haiku Review, and the Horror Senryu journal.