TRANSLATED FROM THE ODIA BY AGNIVESH MAHAPATRA

Quietness

There’s already quite a bit
of quietness in this world.
Why would I wonder, my
silence is something special?

I don’t speak. I am alone.
I am sad, I am in spite.
I am ablaze with fury each moment,
touching the waves in the estuary of love—
I break into pieces,
in a self-absorbed furnace
I turn into cinders, only to
spring again from my own remains
akin to a mythical bird with gold feathers…

All this is very ordinary indeed.
Here, many, many people—like me—
undergo this same predicament,
silently watching the games of life,
and planting their feet deep, are keeping
the earth in place; here, as such.

Their silence too is quite ordinary
Just like my own quietness.

Also, read  “POEMS FROM ‘GARIP/STRANGE’— NEIL P. DOHERTY, TRANSLATED FROM THE TURKISH BY NEIL P. DOHERTY”  published in The Antonym:

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