'Unkept Resolutions' 2018
Ananya Dhawan - (1st)
THAT DREARY VIBE
Contracted imagination,
limited dreams.
Bizarre thoughts
and the wildest screams.
Those extreme highs,
those lowest lows
the drama,
the deceit,
the perished soul,
the pain- concrete.
And you,
hoping,
demanding,
wishing,
but meticulously failing.
Being pulled and torn,
you are ailing.
Ever and again,
you feel the persistent beat.
Holding on,
more to defeat.
(Ananya is a freelance editor who loves writing poetry and shows keen interest in the sensitive side of life)
Shyamal Mukhopadhyay - (1st)
NEVER CAME BACK
Shovelling out relics buried in the layers of time
Faded saga of group of daring youth in their prime:
they left halcyon home,forsaken studies on a spur
possibly,few would have become brilliant scholars.
Piccolo call to change system,in mind they share
resolute passion, obsessed faith and nothing to care,
Traversed remote interiors, wild terrain, woods bare.
Somewhere transgressed prevailing border of lawand order,
a zeal to herald new dawn with rays of emancipation
for marginal multitude, bonded under hunger exploitation:
their path right or not, for history once to declare,
but sacrifice of those desperado,definitely no compare;
tale of bravehearts, in folklore, flows in whirling wind.
Those youths never came back indeed.
(Shyamal Mukhopadhyay is a freelance intruder in creative writing space)
Prarthana Mahato - (2nd)
WEAK RESOLVES
This year unlike the others is new,
Every season came and went,
With rain drops dampening my resolves.
The rain in ‘Aghrayan’ belied traditions and claims.
The Spring and Kalboishakhi demolished resolutions
into pieces that were overstepped and paraded away.
Resolutions I had just two, that were kempt and astute.
Now they are scattered and strewn,
Which I will cremate them soon.
Resolves, I had just two, that broke into pieces not few.
It creeped in my resolves of high walls, adamant and headstrong.
Then like the unfeeling brute, it remained
Unrequited and drooped.
Resolutions became rebellious and mute.
I failed to keep my resolutions astute.
(Prarthana is a media science student, passionate about poetry)
Jagari Mukherjee - (2nd)
THE GHOSTS OF UNKEPT RESOLUTIONS
The ghosts of unkept resolutions
Haunt me, as inescapable
As frosty stars in a wintry sky…
I try to cover them
With colorful patchwork quilts;
But they escape like
Moonlight streaming through fingers…
My guilty heart tries to deny
Their existence, but knowledge of reality
Is ever-present, like a resident ghost…
And so, I am haunted by the truth –
Of how I was untrue
To the stars and the moon
And the entire cosmos
Of my true self…
(Jagari Mukherjee is a poet and freelance content writer who lives and breathes words)
Sravani Singampalli - (3rd)
WORDS
Words have the power
To make one feel
Like a king but sometimes
Words can also spoil the taste of
A nicely made cup of coffee
And can break strong bonds.
There have been times
When I felt like being
Thrown in the dustbin
And people stabbing me
With their bitter words and hostility.
I know I too have been
Harsh and impolite with few people.
Knowing all this I made
A strong resolution of never
Hurting anybody with my words
And it’s depressing to fail
Every year in keeping this resolution
And I don’t know the reason!
(Sravani is a published writer and poet from Andhra Pradesh pursuing doctor of pharmacy)
Dr Medha Bhattacharyya - (3rd)
UNKEPT RESOLUTIONS
Resolutions—
What are they?
Well decisions that are meant to be made or not
And deeds that are meant to be or not—
Who says so?
Well, everyone!
And I? What do I want?
Why bother with ’em resolutions?
We make them on every New Year ’s Eve,
But do not keep them up
Either they are too tough to keep
Or too mundane to be maintained
Live like there is no tomorrow
It is here and now, or never
Broken pieces of glass never get mended
Apply your brakes if you have to,
Press the accelerator with your foot if you have to
Discard the garb of guilt
Don’t make resolutions because you have to
Live and let live.
(Dr Medha Bhattacharyya is a writer and an Assistant Professor at Bengal Institute of Technology)
Ipsita Ganguli
UNKEPT RESOLUTIONS
January ~ she toppled out of bed
Cold and white, she looked unfed.
I resolved to do something for sure,
Give some food to the poor.
February blew in on a breeze
Fading winter acted the tease,
Was it time for me to see the seven seas?
March came in light and mellow
Was the world turning slightly callow?
April came with the blooms
I resolved to clean my room.
May brought in the sweltering heat
Let's make life a little neat.
June thundered in with Rain
My resolutions started giving me pain
July showers cooled me down
But nothing had changed
And Reality frowned.
The world was spinning on its own,
The girl child still raped and disowned.
The trees were felled without much thought
No one really cared for the aged
The youth was busy chasing money
Guzzling beer and talking honey.
Hard-nosed men with egos huge
In the vulnerabilities of religion
They sought refuge.
And truth,poor victim muscled out, forlorn;
Its voice has gone, it cut a figure lone
So, August September went by the by
October November crept in shy,
My life still seemed stacked up in heaps
Disordered and scattered in little bits
Come December, you come to mind,
With your unkempt curls, and cigarette swirls
Matted beard, with whiskey breath!
I resolve again, like every year.
I will let go of you from my head
Even if that leaves me dead!
The story of Resolutions Unkept
Weaves its own, astute and adept.
The year spills over... so does my resolve,
Dreams change, afresh anew
Only my love remains unchanged for you.
(Ipsita Ganguli is a People’s Person and a student of myriad experiences that life holds out)
Ashish Kumar Pathak
OH! MY STEEP CONTRAST
We see people complainingabout life
because of ordinary things,
We see people wantingto die
because of end of relationships!
We find people depressed
because of material goods,
We see people in bad humour
just because they have
passed from lunch,
We also see people dissatisfied with life
all the time and very often;
But, don't we also see?
People on the brink of death
giving value to life and
fighting for it with smileon their face?
We also see people thanking God,
for having madethe only meal of the day,
We see people survivingwith minimum wage
without losinggood humour,
We find them on wheelchairs
passing inspiration for living!
We also see people satisfiedbecause they are alive,
Peoplethanking for good health.
We also see unemployed people
Fighting for their daily bread,
To feed hungry children.
We never end seeing things
Social, inhuman and banalcontrast,
all the time and quite very often?
Don't we end up seeing
all the contrasts,
despite kept or unkeptresolution?
(Ashish Kumar Pathak is a primary school teacher from Munger, Bihar and featured in Fragrance of Asia anthology)
Moinak Dutta
UNKEPT ONES
Oft do I resolve
To do things
Before situations evolve
And forth bring
Wonders of a kind;
Last year
Wearing a cloak
I did declare
I would not smoke;
That I broke
Quite with ease
Standing before
An oceanic breeze,
(From fags
I did graduate
To pipe,
For which now
I do advocate.
(Moinak Dutta is a teacher, novelist, poet and blogger)
Jayashree Bhattacharjee
LETTING GO
We walked into each other’s life
With the promise to bring a smile.
With your hand still holding mine
Waking at night from dreams fine
We resolved to stay forever this way
No sour feelings, no rude words to say.
Now with my lonely thoughts I sit alone,
In the dark depressive nights I only moan.
I'm torn between holding on to our resolutions yesterday
And accepting the reality of not being fulfilled today.
You left them all in a pile for me
To sift through it and set me free.
We promised each other a better tomorrow
But you filled my heart with only sorrow.
Resolutions, how sweet, if they could be kept,
But the unkept ones will sweep us away.
Why did you say it’s a truth, when it was a lie?
Why did you say hello, only to tell me goodbye?
(Jayashree Bhattacharjee is a blogger, ex-senior Lecturer, Education Dept. Durgapur Steel Plant and Ex Visiting Faculty, NIT, Durgapur)
