2 Poems by Sonnet Mondal

2 Poems by Sonnet Mondal

Poignant Words from a Miner

Descending into a mine,
Piercing darkness of five hundred metres
Questions popped up in my mind;
I felt unsafe while murmuring those.

My sagging nerves were pulled tight
As a miner overhearing me spoke,
‘We imagine us as zombies
As we get inside and
Imagine getting a new life
Each day when we see
The Sun again.’

Lotus-reused as a metaphor

A Lotus afloat in a clear pond…
Is What I had dreamed to be
While I was inside my mother.
No, I don’t remember it
I realise it from a call
That’s nods me against my soul.
The tarn was quite clear, unambiguous—
Pure, scenic, serene waters
Made me cry in joy at first.
Now see, not even I had been
To enough towns, not even I’ve
Completed my fiftieth visit
To my maternal quarters
And I apprehend the dirt and unwanted weeds
Creeping in the clear water around me.
I learned to wear specs, not out of fashion
But out of pain my eyes had suffered.
My parents perhaps favoured me for this!
They waited to ease me off
With the heavy bangles of marriage.
They were preparing me for that;
‘A satirical smile to their irony’.
Don’t get me wrong again,
I had learnt to love someone also
While he had learnt to impress so many.

Oh, the pond had grown quite black,
And there is no municipality to look after.
The thousand flowers thrown at me
Seemed like thousand stones at humanity
To turn it into evil but my arms
Were heavy in metals and red in chemicals.
What harm it would have caused,
If I could invent something upon these!
Anyways, I have learnt to move now,
With responsibilities in my head and
Keys of weakness in my hand.

I had never wanted love from my husband,
I never got it hence. Should I be happy?
I was frustrated upon myself,
Losing the power to demand and
Let others demand and before I could
Conceive the magical juice that’s restores
Soul into rebirth, I had to turn bald
For they had pulled my hair so hard
To uproot it from its base.

The waters were muddy now—
The blue hue was replaced by brown.
I dreamt of giving birth to somebody like myself,
And that haunted me, for acting like
A fox against my very blood.
I knew the ways to protest but
My muscles had turned compromising,
My stomach aches to warn me…
I can’t be foolish—I have learnt so many things.

Now, that this night is silent and calm enough,
I have carefully picked the lotus up
And crushed the bud within.
Oh, don’t misunderstand me again,
The water is no more here,
It is killing clay out there now and
Swamps all around to share nutrition.
I am happy now that I have been a lotus,
Floating in a clear sky and about death?
That is no more a worry for me and my bud.

Author's Bio: Sonnet Mondal has authored five collections of poetry and is a widely published poet. He has been bestowed with honors such as Poet Laureate from Bombadil, Sweden, Doctor of Literature from United Writers' Association, Secretary General's honor and appointment from Poetas Del Mundo and many others.

His latest books include Penumbra of Indian Verses and 21 Lines Fusion Sonnets of 21st Century which introduces a new genre of ‘21 Lines Sonnet’. He is also the youngest Indian to be invited at the Struga Poetry Festival, Macedonia to represent India in their Golden Jubilee celebrations to promote the cultures between the two countries. He was featured as one of the five famous among Bengali youths by India Today in 2010 and as an achiever by the Herald of India. His upcoming books include a novel in verse and the second part of ‘21 Lines Fusion Sonnets’.

Sonnet Mondal delves deep into the heart of a miner in Poignant Words from a Miner who fears to go into the mine. A miner feels reborn each day he comes out the mine safe. In Lotus-reused as a metaphor Sonnet dreams to be a lotus but at the same time he is satirical about many things but nature at prime.