Kolkata Kolkata!!!

Photo Courtesy: Debdatta 'Riju' Mukherjee 

Debdatta 'Riju' Mukherjee lives in Kolkata and barely survives his insufferable job as an IT professional through poetry, photography and whiskey.

Kolkata Kolkata!!!

Photo Courtesy: Debdatta 'Riju' Mukherjee

Debdatta 'Riju' Mukherjee lives in Kolkata and barely survives his insufferable job as an IT professional through poetry, photography and whiskey.

KOLKATA : Street Calligraphy I

In this electric zombieland, this beaten land of wishful indulgence, the deathroll of the bureaucratic juggernaut buries the hungry body and mind. The writing here, is always on the wall.

Photo Courtesy: Debdatta 'Riju' Mukherjee

Debdatta 'Riju' Mukherjee lives in Kolkata and barely survives his insufferable job as an IT professional through poetry, photography and whiskey.

This is my love, my sweetheart

 © Debdatta 'Riju' Mukherjee

i'll not tell her

that my lips were mad to kiss you

All I wanted was to hold your body in my arms and

let my body melt in yours.

Maybe she'd scream, or maybe she'd softly

loosen her fingers from mine

and sob silently.

her trees would whisper to me

GO AWAY!!

her birds would chatter to me

GO AWAY!!

her fishes would laugh at me

GO AWAY!!

and again I have to walk alone, moonbathed

while you give your husband a handjob

and try too hard to think of me

-by Nilimesh Dutta

Nilimesh Dutta lives in Kolkata. He writes very seldom, and writes in Bengali alternative little magazines.

Photo Courtesy: Debdatta 'Riju' Mukherjee

Debdatta 'Riju' Mukherjee lives in Kolkata and barely survives his insufferable job as an IT professional through poetry, photography and whiskey.

Iron Jaw

      © Debdatta 'Riju' Mukherjee

he wants to spit the gum out

but I won’t let him

he’s been chewing the same piece 

for forty five minutes

but I don’t care

when he can chew it two hours

consistently I’ll let him

spit it out and put

the masticated wad

back in the freezer

until tomorrow

then he will chew on it

another two hours

there will come a time

my son will have

a jaw of iron

no punch will dissuade him

no blow render him

unconscious

he will be tough

the way I became tough

and he will thank me

eventually

-by Karl Koweski

Karl Koweski remains an enemy of the Amish, having launched peanut brittle boycotts in 12 Mennonite communties.  His poems and stories can be found here and there.  His collection of short stories Blood and Greasepaint remains available and his latest Kockblockers will be out in November.

Photo Courtesy: Debdatta 'Riju' Mukherjee

Debdatta 'Riju' Mukherjee lives in Kolkata and barely survives his insufferable job as an IT professional through poetry, photography and whiskey.

Tuk Tuk

       © Debdatta 'Riju' Mukherjee

It is

annoyingly gratifying

that

auto rides

can be

intensely erotic.

She is big,

her thighs sit

firmly against yours,

your shoulders rub

with hers,

elbow lurks

near her breasts

you wonder

if she likes

it;

to be locked

in flesh

knee to shoulder,

close

in sharp turns,

grateful for

the centri-whatever

force

which gives me more of you.

Your hair flies into

my face

Smells of shampoo

We breathe in

the same

dust and smoke,

our arms exchange

sweat

and

i hope

to make small talk.

Wish that

you wouldn't take

time,

to undress

after a drink or two

maybe talk about

a book or two

and leave me

alone

post fuck.

and then

we screech to a halt.

she pays for the ride.

her lover,

waits by the sidewalk

his t-shirt says:

"pizzatarian"

-by Debdatta 'Riju' Mukherjee

Debdatta 'Riju' Mukherjee lives in Kolkata and barely survives his insufferable job as an IT professional through poetry, photography and whiskey.

Photo Courtesy: Debdatta 'Riju' Mukherjee

Topstoned

       © Debdatta 'Riju' Mukherjee

The black sea reflected night lightning

at the edges of the island.

A red horse swung upside down by legs

from sky gallows

as the crescent moon topstoned

a pyramid with Mars and Saturn.

Swimming in the dark I lost myself

in the salt waves

free to be nothing but the stillness drift

like a mothering mercy love.

-by John Swain

John Swain lives in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. Red Paint Hill published his first collection, Ring the Sycamore Sky.

Photo Courtesy: Debdatta 'Riju' Mukherjee

Debdatta 'Riju' Mukherjee lives in Kolkata and barely survives his insufferable job as an IT professional through poetry, photography and whiskey.

When I was a tree

       © Debdatta 'Riju' Mukherjee

an intellectual goose bit me on the nut

as I was trying to be a tree

trying to practice silence

I wish I had legs to run

like all those trees who are running away

from this city.

-by Subhankar Das

Subhankar das is a poet, bookstore owner, and publisher of Bangla experimental materials. He produced six short films that have been honored at international film festivals, and has translated the works of Allen Ginsberg and Charles Bukowski in Bengali.

Photo courtesy: Debdatta 'Riju' Mukherjee

Debdatta 'Riju' Mukherjee lives in Kolkata and barely survives his insufferable job as an IT professional through poetry, photography and whiskey.