The Making of a Poet

Author: Arnab Chakraborty
Pages: 72
Year of Publication: 2017
Price: Rs 150
ISBN:
978-93-5045-164-9 (9789350451649)

About the Author:
Arnab Chakraborty has lived a rather varied life in his twenty-seven years in the dystopic sector of Behala in the lovely city of Calcutta. His love for poetry compelled him to leave a career in civil engineering, bringing him to study literature instead, after a year of working as a correspondent at IBNS. His writing is informed by his many experiences in academics, journalism and beyond. He currently resides in Calcutta with his parents and his four cats.

Teaser:

While I Was Kissing Her

While I was kissing her at the crossing,
5 people were happy,
27 posts were made against it,
45 people decried the loss of culture,
66 adults questioned its need,
Almost 80 said “no”
(With a few in half-minds),
And while over a hundred felt jealous,
The rest felt shocked.

While I was kissing her at the crossing,
5 kids were sold.
27 people went missing,
45 people were traumatized for life,
66 adults got away with rape and murder,
Almost 80 lost their right to say No!
(With a few who lost their right to say anything),
And while over a hundred felt the loss of innocence,
The rest felt nothing.

We are young,
At fault and stupid in the fight over mistakes,
While it is true that sometimes we do run over the edge,
We do disregard the barriers of others
Or take a skip too far;
Find fault in that edge, that barrier or skip,
But don’t stop us from running,

Because, while I was kissing her at the crossing,
True evil still lurks
In the corners of your alleys and minds.

Contents:
Preface / 9

Cracks / 11
1 / 13
2 / 14
3 / 16
4 / 18
5 / 20
On Love / 21
7 / 23
8 / 24
The Evening Prayer / 25
10 / 27
To the Honourable Soldiers of the Nation / 29

Shards / 33
Blue Umbrella / 35
Forgetting to Wish on Woman’s Day / 37
Hazaron Khawishe Aisi / 39
I Am Nowhere / 42
I took a slight left turn the other day / 43
I want to write a difficult love poem / 44
It’s 1870 / 46
Ode to the Loss of Empathy / 48
On Getting a Tiger / 49
Prime Minister and Nudity / 51
The Vampire Who Loved Garlic / 53
While I Was Kissing Her / 54

Fragments / 55