.
On Me
I am a simple Eastern bard
__Who moseys by the heather
That grows in sweeping fields and loves
__To dance in springy weather.
I glamourize my hometown great,
__Pen tales of grief and love,
And avidly behold the train
__Of downy clouds above.
My town is green and countrified.
__I always long to see
The cowpokes pootle, yodelling
__A rustic melody!
It is my wish to build a house
__Upon some lonely butte,
And when it’s time for groceries,
__I’d take the townward route.
But those are dreams, and dreams alone—
__Life’s bleak facts horrify them.
Therefore, through verse’s power, I
__Aspire to glorify them.
And if we chance to meet someday,
__I’ll write about you, surely,
For I have nothing else to give
__Save rhymes and stanzas, purely!
.
pootle: walk leisurely
.
.
To Mr. Biswas
Well, fine! Your throat’s a factory of melodies
Whose saccharin can give me long-term diabetes;
You earned the sobriquet ‘The Warbling Champion’,
And countless Grammy titles and awards you’ve won.
Now, please come down to earth! Do not forget that
You are my neighbour; plus, I hope you get that
My study room’s a foot away from your latrine
(Its fetor and your hum: the causes for my spleen),
So please abstain from thinking you’re a Cardinal
Or any songbird when you’re in the urinal
Lest me and other occupants go harum-scarum
And make this law against you in a seated forum:
If Mr. Biswas dares to quaver any song
Again, he will be hog-tied, gagged, and hurled among
The wild, where he can team up with the Chickadees
And entertain a troop of hooting Chimpanzees.
.
.
Shamik Banerjee resides in Assam, India with his parents and works for a local firm. His poems have appeared in Fevers of the Mind, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, and Westward Quarterly, among others, and some of his poems are forthcoming in Dreich and The Ekstasis Review, to name a few.
These are two fun poems that somehow fascinated me. “On Me” is more than fun, since it distinctly provides an image of living the tranquil life of a poet who enjoys his countryfied serene environment. “To Mr. Biswas” provides excellent humor that makes me wonder if my neighbors can hear me singing in my house! I think my walls are thick enough I can escape the fate of being thrown to the chimpanzees! As you can tell, I enjoyed both poems immensely.
I am very happy to know that my poems fascinated you, Mr. Peterson. Life in my town is peaceful, indeed.
Haha! I’m sure your thick wall is acting as a good shield, unlike mine, in addition to the fact that my study room is only a foot away from his toilet. Gosh!
Thank you so much for leaving this cheerful comment. I smiled!
I second Roy, Shamik, in both admiring and enjoying both of these poems. “On Me” particularly captured me for the speaker’s wry awareness of what life is and what life could be. I am particularly taken by the rhymes of “horrify” and “glorify.”
“Mr. Biswas” is a hoot. There’s no better way to get a few things off your chest than by writing a scathing poem about it! Chickadees/Chimpanzees is hilarious. Your neighbor must be quite the singer. You don’t want to hear what I sound like.
Dear Brian, thank you so much for this heartening comment. Horrify/ glorify is my favourite part of this poem, too!
I agree with your words: writing about some topics such as this is very relieving, and I can’t wait to see Mr. Biswas’s reaction the day I’ll make him read this poem.
I also enjoyed both of these poems Shamik, especially “On Me”. I loved the rhymes and musicality of it. “To Mr. Biswas” is very funny.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my poems, Norma, and I’m very pleased to know you enjoyed them.
It’s a nice surprise to see alexandrines here, in the poem about Mr. Bizwas. Traditional English metrical verse skews heavily towards iambic pentameter, and it can be tricky to create the six-beat line. I like the rhymes “latrine/spleen”, “scarum/forum”, and “Cardinal/urinal”. And the whole idea of the poem — complaining about someone singing and stinking up a toilet — is both funny and transgressive.
About “On Me” — it is clearly in the style of American cowboy poetry, which may well be the only poetry in the United States that actually has a devoted non-academic audience. But it is written by a poet in the subcontinent of India, and one who uses all the typical diction of that subgenre: “moseys, heather, cowpokes, pootle, yodelling, butte”.
This reminds me that Provencal poems in the medieval period (using that poetry’s language, style, and typical subjects) were composed all over Europe by non-Provencal writers; and that the traditions and rules of any formal style of poetry can be mastered by anyone, just as Romans, Syrians and North Africans in the ancient world could write excellent Greek verse.
Mr. Salemi, I don’t know how to thank you for this motivating comment, but let me start from the start. I wanted to employ the iambic pentameter originally, but I didn’t, deeming the iambic hexameter more apt for its tone. I am delighted to know you like those pairs of rhymes. These are my personal favourites too.
The later part of your comment is greatly appreciated. Definitely, my intention was to deliver a poem that was more or less like the subgenre cowboy poetry, and I’m happy to learn that it appeared the same to you. The part about non-Provencal writers writing and mastering Provencal poems is a direct source of inspiration for me. Thank you so much for the knowledge you’ve shared and for your inspiring words.
Two very enjoyable poems, Shamik.
‘On Me’ I felt was very personable, and effortlessly created a perfectly 3-D picture of the narrator.
As a bit of an aside, but a very interesting aside, the guy who wrote the James Bond theme tune originally wrote the tune for the film ‘A House for Mr Biswas’, though it played at about a third the speed. The music wasn’t used, and when the James Bond gig came up, he sped up the music up and it was used for the Bond franchise.
Thanks for the reads.
“3-D picture of the narrator”! I’ll always remember this comment, Mr. Freeman. You’ve definitely put a big smile on my face.
I wasn’t aware of the film, ‘A House for Mr. Biswas’ but now that you’ve mentioned it, I’m curious to watch it. Thank you for this interesting insight into the Bond franchise.
What an endearing appeal for acquaintance! I used to “avidly behold the train of downy clouds above.” The second poem goes on to outline personal qualities disliked in a sprightly manner, which is quite a feat using the hexameter lines. Enjoyed both very much.
Such a beautiful comment, dear Margaret. I’m happy to have learned about another “cloud-watcher”. Writing the second poem was an enjoyable experience, and I’m glad you enjoyed it too. Thank you so much for reading and commenting.
I did too, enjoy both poems! And thank you to Mr Salemi for the exposition and highlight of unusual words.
Thank you so much for reading and commenting, JD.
I used to drink a lot of Assam tea, and I was always impressed by how labor-intensive its harvesting had to be. I have since switched to Mutan White, but, ah, the memories. Happy trails, Shamik!
I am a tea lover too, Mr. Anderson. Reading your comment felt like conversing with a fellow Assamese. Thank you so much for thi sentiment.
Shamik, your poem, ‘On Me’, captures a simple but pleasant scene, connecting with a tranquil rural way of life. It’s the type of life I often miss from when I was a young boy in a small rural town in Puerto Rico. I love the rhythmic flow of the poem and the selected rhymes. It is a very enjoyable read.
I also enjoyed reading ‘To Mr. Biswas’, which had me chuckling a bit with its well-crafted humor. Nicely written!