By V. Shruti Devi (quill-o-the-wisp)
Greetings on the occasion of World Wetlands Day!
Today, i choose to upload a poem i wrote after having made a field visit to the East Calcutta Wetlands, then on the outskirts of Calcutta, as a part of a workshop connected to India's National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan-making process.
This was emailed to colleagues, and i now share it on this blog. Enjoy!
EAST CALCUTTA WETLANDS
Casting about for conversation
I vote in
Fish.
Fancy lights and fashion
Chandeliers and passion
Reflect, deflect
The river and the glass.
Clink, drink and make no haste
Here unfolds the tale
of this repast.
Fish and mustard
Macher jhol
Cooked to perfection
Bowl for bowl.
Fresh and juicy
Caught this evening.
Well caught, well caught
Well, you could sneak a peek
Why, where are they found?
Where do they swim?
Which creek?
(Visions of crystalline blue,
I'll wager,
Danced past those feasting eyes.
Charmed assembly lines of carp
and other fins
Swished and swam
past bulrushes
beneath rainbows
then obligingly into a shimmering net
perhaps a can.)
About to shoot an illusion
I rope in
Facts.
Fish-food and nutrients
Possible traces of pollutants
Chew, eschew
The water and the sewage.
Think, link and bridge the gap.
Recycled nutrients
From crap to crap.
Acres and acres
Four feet deep.
Cultivating fish
Often losing sleep.
Gaurd-houses on stilts
Bamboo watch towers
Murky silence neath murky stars.
Well, you could sneak a peek
Why, i'll stick to the menue*
Glad they recycle nutrients
Far from this venue.
*(sic)
by V. Shruti Devi, written 2002.
3rd Feb., N.B.: One edit made by way of the *
Greetings on the occasion of World Wetlands Day!
Today, i choose to upload a poem i wrote after having made a field visit to the East Calcutta Wetlands, then on the outskirts of Calcutta, as a part of a workshop connected to India's National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan-making process.
This was emailed to colleagues, and i now share it on this blog. Enjoy!
EAST CALCUTTA WETLANDS
Casting about for conversation
I vote in
Fish.
Fancy lights and fashion
Chandeliers and passion
Reflect, deflect
The river and the glass.
Clink, drink and make no haste
Here unfolds the tale
of this repast.
Fish and mustard
Macher jhol
Cooked to perfection
Bowl for bowl.
Fresh and juicy
Caught this evening.
Well caught, well caught
Well, you could sneak a peek
Why, where are they found?
Where do they swim?
Which creek?
(Visions of crystalline blue,
I'll wager,
Danced past those feasting eyes.
Charmed assembly lines of carp
and other fins
Swished and swam
past bulrushes
beneath rainbows
then obligingly into a shimmering net
perhaps a can.)
About to shoot an illusion
I rope in
Facts.
Fish-food and nutrients
Possible traces of pollutants
Chew, eschew
The water and the sewage.
Think, link and bridge the gap.
Recycled nutrients
From crap to crap.
Acres and acres
Four feet deep.
Cultivating fish
Often losing sleep.
Gaurd-houses on stilts
Bamboo watch towers
Murky silence neath murky stars.
Well, you could sneak a peek
Why, i'll stick to the menue*
Glad they recycle nutrients
Far from this venue.
*(sic)
by V. Shruti Devi, written 2002.
3rd Feb., N.B.: One edit made by way of the *
