Translated from the Odia by Pitambar Naik
The Dalkhai Song on TV
My daughter remains unmalleable
to let her solve mathematics
my mother is in the backyard
of her dementia
thinking to sync with the history of that
blooming guava tree.
My wife chases me to renovate our
redundant intimacy in our grey hairs
and thickening wrinkles.
My father is in the lotus posture
in karma yoga, everyone in their
own orbit pursuing insanely
to see the time halt.
And I’m rushing to the clamouring
telephone only to hear
the passing of the lecherous god!
But there’s the Dalkhai song on TV.
The Spider
Bones and blood shake hands
from two different geographies
even a mighty king
could flee the warfield
cry and laughter are
just like the flower and the thorn,
some saints say.
You long to let the tongue
touch the nose
but only to stoop down the head
there’s no place as such
that a spider can’t knit a weave
everywhere
from a royal palace to
the house of a shepherd
everywhere.
Fear
My son goes to school
in the city
where the eye and kidney rackets
are rampant.
My daughter’s bank
PO exam hits the aisle of fear,
letting my daughter board
the train
I return home at 12 in the night.
My wife suffers from
asthma,
a disease that restricts her breathing
and confiscates her world.
A stray dog outside
has gone berserk
as I step out I’m
engulfed by a killing fear.
Manoranjan Sahoo is an award-winning poet. He writes in Odia and contributes to various Odia journals regularly. He is the author of three collections of poetry—Apadebata (2000), Khalihatare (2009) and Kicchi Kabita Kichhi Nirabata (2022). Translations of his work are forthcoming or have appeared in journals and anthologies such as The Bayou Review (University of Houston-Downtown), Carmina Magazine, Mad Swirl, i-70 Review, Prachya Review, Fury Species, an anthology of translation of Odia Poetry of Resistance, Barnamala, an anthology of translation of Odia poetry (by poets born between 1900-2000 years) and Unnayan among others. He was born and raised in Indupur, Kendrapara, Odisha.
Pitambar Naik is an advertising professional and award-winning writer. When he’s not creating ideas for brands, he writes and translates poetry. His recent work has appeared in JMWW, Singapore Unbound, Ellipsis Literature and Art, The McNeese Review, The Notre Dame Review and elsewhere. He’s the author of two books of poetry, The Anatomy of Solitude (2019) and Fury Species, a translation of Odia Poetry of Resistance (2023) and now working on his next two collections of poetry simultaneously. He grew up in the Kalahandi district of Odisha and now lives in Hyderabad.