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Subodh Sarkar (India)

In my bastard English
 
I am not a bastard; my father was not a bastard
But my English is.
 
I shout four-letter word in Bastard English
Give me my quota to eat, drink and dance.
 
My friends who couldn’t cope with English, got lost
My friends who spoke English beautifully, survived.
 
I am not a bastard; my father was not a bastard
But my English is.
 
In my bastard English I provoke you to
Seven deadly temptations.
 
Temptation no 1:
Democracy is a prejudice
Temptation no2:
Marriage is a lie
Temptation no3:
Goddesses had silicon breasts.
Temptation no 4:
Christianity is a hoax.
 
I take a pause to list out three other temptations.
 
In my bastard English I proclaimed
If democracy is good,
Why there is no drinking water for the poor
Who voted you to power?
 
My temptation no 2 said
Marriage is a lie
Why all husbands pretend as great husbands
With a fantasy of wooing other women?
 
I take another pause to make a gesture of gross humanity
To tell the world that we are
The twilight children of one geography
And not of another.
To tell the world that we are
The babies of one language
And not of another.
We have now more bastards than before
 
But I am not a bastard; my father was not a bastard
But my English is.
I am not to blame
But it is you who created the Commonwealth
For the bastards like me.                                                                                        
 
Translated by KDG
 

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  • Home
  • Festival Editions
    • 2018
    • 2019
    • 2020
    • 2021
    • 2022
  • Chair Poet in Residence Program
  • Media
    • Media 2018
    • Media 2019
  • About
  • Contact
  • Interviews
  • Visual Poetry