The Veranda by Sonnet Mondal

Grandpa used to sit on a protruded part

of the veranda of our old house.

In a subtle hesitancy, he used to nod

to known people walking by –

ploughing time – watching across the road.

During his last days, I remember him

mostly staying in the bed where

he had slept for more than six decades.

Nowadays, I sit often in the new open balcony

of our house. Few people wave at me.

Few of them smile and few just walk by.

I will be sitting here till these people remain

just as grandpa still sits in his veranda

in the eyes of those who have seen him there.

An inescapable view of places we inhabit –

an inconsolable coffin — much before we depart –

a roofless shelter for nostalgia.

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Sonnet Mondal writes from Kolkata, and is the author of Karmic Chanting (Copper Coin 2018) and Ink and Line (Dhauli Books 2018). He has read at literary festivals in Macedonia, Ireland, Turkey, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Germany, Italy, Ukraine, Hungary, and Slovakia. His writings have appeared in publications across Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia. Founder director of Chair Poetry Evenings - Kolkata's International Poetry Festival, Mondal edits the Indian section of Lyrikline (Haus für Poesie, Berlin) and serves as editor in chief of Verseville. He has been a guest editor for Words Without Borders, New York, Poetry at Sangam, India, and was one of the directors of the Odisha Art and Literature Festival in 2018. His works have been translated into Hindi, Italian, Chinese, Turkish, Slovak, Macedonian, French, Russian, Slovenian, Ukrainian, Hungarian, and Arabic.