He dreams about a blue house
With a red roof
And mangoes that burn
Like hundred watt bulbs
In his backyard
He has been dreaming about them
Ever since he banged his head
Against a cross-beam
In his father’s garage
(He had not reached puberty)
He has had several accidents
since:
One very nearly claimed his
left eye
His dream has not changed though
It is always the blue house
with the red roof
And mangoes that glitter in
the backyard
He dreams about a blue house
Where the night disrobes
In a slow strip tease. Where
dawn
Slips silently under bolted
doors spilling
Her load of gold-edged mail
Where fear does not coil, uncoil
In the belly
Like a thousand vipers
Where shadows do not cast
Dark glances in doorways at
dusk
Where clocks do not echo
The heart’s silence
Ticking away into oblivion
Where mangoes are in season
All the mellifluous year round
Ah sometimes his mind goes blank
He fights the dark in the dark
Hoping for something drastic
A blow to the head perhaps
To jump-start his brain
Tonight he is fighting again
Against the din of consciousness
The dogs are stripping the night
To the bone. The flower in his
brain
Is withered
The mangoes are slowly becoming
stone
This poem is about a man, an incorrigible romantic,
who is waging a losing battle against schizophrenia. The title
is taken from Yeast’s poem, The Dialogue of Self
and Soul in which the following lines occur:
"The unfinished man and his pain
Brought face to face with his own clumsiness;"
Shimanta Bhattacharyya
Copyright © 2004 |
