City Birds

By

On sunny days
the asphalt road is blind.

After a rainy night
three wet crows
their steel-grey feathers
bunched like pen-knives
sit in a circle
round a brand-new puddle
to watch themselves
silhouetted
against the opaque grey sky.

I sit on the pavement
and watch the road
get eyes.

Like the road
and the crows
I too am addicted
to seeing more
though I realize
that the body
(like the puddle)
is no store
for pictures.


Kingshuk Sarkar

Kingshuk Sarkar lives in Kolkata (India) and works as a Spanish teacher and translator. His English poems have appeared in Stringtown Magazine and Northwest Boulevard. Bengali literary magazines like Desh and Godyopodyoprobondho have published his Bengali poems. He has also translated poems from Bengali to English which have appeared in Visions International, Kritya and The Antonym Magazine. He regularly translates Spanish poetry to Indian languages such as Bengali and Assamese.