Aboard the Calcutta Express ...

For the description, please read the oldest review..it provides a necessary background for the poem ... Unfortunately, Charlie doesn't intend on providing me enough space to describe myself here ...

The world speeds by on either side
As motionless I lie,
On a berth with half the woodwork gone,
Lights defunct as I.

Darkness's been my 'better half'
For sixty long years now
Stable as I try to remain,
Clinging on and how.

The sparks of light I seldom see
Are but Western pomp and show-
Tunnels that lead to "DEAD END" signs;
The din succeeds the glow.

The family split in opinion last night
And nearly wrote my death:
They blocked my veins and slashed my wrist
- Caused significant unrest.

The train was nearing a station at last,
When the sister raised alarm
That the elders had conspired so
Had steered to a haunted farm.

The train proceeded to move adrift
As the quarrel continued
Sandwiched in between I lay,
Tormented in the feud.

Oh! How long will stations still fly past?
This turbulent status quo?
All take care of self-prestige;
My family turns my foe.

How I wish to hit the road
Far from the metal tracks,
Miles from the dark and stagnant air
In the advancing breeze relax.

But will my very own kith and kin
Ever realize my dream?
Inaction never pays on track
Tho' "kickass" it may seem.

Baseless strikes and whimsical fasts
I've faced enough of them;
It's time to drill into your brains
The good rules of the game.

Arguing for lack of point
In the end will never pay;
Never neglect the family cause
Merely to have your say.....

Reviews

[joshua rainbird]

I like the meter of this poem which seems to force its momentum rather than feeling runaway. The arrest of rhyming in the fourth stanza invokes a feeling of careering through points, with the chaos that a train lurching brings.
The line I struggle with is Baseless strikes and whimsical fasts - the onomatopoeia of the 'whim' doesn't quite work for me, although these words adequately describe the bleakness of the arguments.
The political moral is strong, particularly in the cautionary last stanza where there's risk of bringing the futile juggernaut crashing into your own home.

[Christina Harper: Sitti..]

"The train was nearing a station [a]t last"

Like Bubo, I did not see any real political area in this. I did, however, see a lot of great imagery and a vivid monument of your amazing talent. Good job.

[Bubo]

Is this political? I don't see that unless the disagreement is about politics?
I thought the flow was perfect, every image of that moving train while thoughts whirled,

The train proceeded to move adrift
As the quarrel continued
Sandwiched in between I lay,
Tormented in the feud.

Arguing for lack of point
In the end will never pay;
Never neglect the family cause
Merely to have your say.....

Very in depth verses.And seemingly a vivid account of a day that passed on a train with family.........in dispute!

[Roy]

Since the description of the poem exceeded the limited and was brutally truncated by the webmaster, so I'll take care to paste the entire text here:

I am no Communist. Right wing, neither. You may berate me by calling me anti-political.. I don't mind. All I want is progress of my motherland. And I hate it when you take it up as a political issue, to please your 'anima' as well as feed your baying hounds from time to time..

Written in the context of the effect of the Singur political duel as observed in the City of Joy, the poem seeks to explore the feelings of a city strangulated by demonstrations, strikes, and counter-demonstrations.....