Yashodhara Ray Chaudhuri

• Poem 1: ​After the termination
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• Poem 2: The shop poem 
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After the termination
 
A womb had borne child eight times
And all eight times success was hers.
Another womb, only once.
The first womb ( 1901-1999), is the grandmother’s.
The second womb ( 1965-  ) , the grand daughter’s.
Now, the second womb
Weeps blood for its’ unborn embryos
On the tenth and eleventh of every month.
Now, after every wanted and unwanted
Termination, the second womb feels
Inferior
Tired
Anemic.

The shop poem 
 
In this hapless , blind shop-trap
Everything that you see , you feel like buying,  asap.
 
In the stories and the shoptalks
In the gory red bedrocks
In the buying and selling of  bloodied dead wings
I could buy the moon
Instead I buy only the paper lamp with strings
 
In this hapless, bloated shop trap
Everything you see, you feel like buying asap.
 
Things are here, things are there
Objects, objects everywhere
You get attracted often
You get sucked into the shop den
 
In this hapless, flimsy  shop trap
Everything you buy, becomes useless asap.
 
 

Yashodhara Ray Chaudhuri (born 1965) is a poet hailing from Kolkata, West Bengal, India.  Publishing her works since 1993, she has over 12 collections of poetry  and short stories to her credit. She was awarded the Krittibas Puroskar in 1998 established by Sunil Gangopadhyay and also the Anita Sunilkumar puraskar instituted by Bangla Akademy in 2006.
A few of her books are Panyasamhita, Pisachini kabya, Chirantan Galpomala, Matribhumi Bumper, Solitaire, etc.
She studied philosophy from Presidency College , Kolkata and joined Indian Audit and Accounts Service in 1991 .
Yashodhara also is a translator from original French language. She has translated Leonardo Da Vinci by Serge Bremley in 2008, and Combat de la Vie by Dr Luc Montaignier in 2012.
She is married to Trinanjan Chakrabarty, a scholar and teacher of French language .

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