Explore the sensory landscape of a riverside journey with Gopal in this evocative Tanka prose, exclusively on DifferentTruths.com.
The riverside road is narrow and sludgy. At one end of the road, the boulders are strewn to prevent erosion. I can see the sand island shrouded in the morning smoke. Clays and muds clog my toes. Heat lies heavy on the land. Out in the distance, a crow dives in slow motion to collect a biscuit packet. I scratch my way to the wooden jetty. The river winds slowly and quickly through the bank. A painted boat is waiting there for the tourists, inviting them to a river cruise. It lets rip a sound that carries a mile or more. The boat then rolls out, like always, leaving me behind with memories
riverscape
summer sky still holds
the rain clouds
to steady the nerves
of those restless tourists
Picture design by Anumita Roy
Gopal Lahiri is a bilingual poet, critic, editor, and translator with 33 books, including eight edited volumes. Anthologised in over 150 journals and anthologies worldwide and translated into 18 languages across 17 countries, he has received the Setu Excellence Award, a Pushcart Prize nomination, a Best of the Net nomination, the First Jayanta Mahapatra National Award, and First Prize at the 43rd World Congress of Poets. His Selected Poems was published by Classix, New Delhi.
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