The red, green, yellow street signs flash at me.
With trembling hands, I honk, whisk.
The faint neon lights of the city flicker and blaze.
I am steering my way to the rhythm and pace of vehicles
Moving sideways, up, down and center.
I am using the break incessantly,
Cursing every twisted move I make,
Every street sign I am unable to follow,
Every wrong turn I end up with.
I am riding, in bumps and bolts,
While the neon lights, the streets fly past me
In synchronized movements, cooked with frenzy and oblivion.
In the blinding maze of uncertain miles,
Wild bugs screech inside my stomach
Make cracking movements, as my legs race up the accelerator.
I am shoving the car, its wheels and our bodies
Into the city’s farthest boundaries, mapping each road,
Each turn, each exit, rolling and stuffing them in my pockets,
The wheels crushing footprints like dismantled crumbs.
I am chewing my pie slices of proximity,
Hatching the intrigue of flying distant realms
While the city calls me out in broken syllables.
I have a splintered grin, wave at the hoisted hands,
At the outstretched fingers, the harmonic choir.
The streets are winding and long,
Embracing highways and horizons under abstract skies.
I weigh out my latitudes and longitudes of leaving.
The default settings of my memories,
They concede with the journey.
I collect them, stuff them in cardboard boxes,
Push them to the boundaries of nowhere.
I am shoving the car in the dead end of the city.
Shattered, in splinters and shards.
Down the quiet, grey streets, I drive like an old ghost,
In the break of dawn, flashlights blink like omens.
Lopa Banerjee. October 20, 2014
Quite a superb poem.
Love the extended metaphor it is for life.
Thank you so much, Ampat Koshy sir, for understanding the essence of the poem so perfectly!! Truly honored 🙂
Superb …
Thanks much, and much love, Sarada jee 🙂 🙂
yes, life indeed is full of twisted moves, bumps and bolts, mad steering, blinding mazes-but you drive extremely beautifully with your exquisite pen!
beautiful poem!
A vibrant,visceral voyage.An urban odyssey !
Thank you Santosh Bakaya, for your beautiful analysis of the driving metaphor of the poem! Much appreciated 🙂 Stay blessed, my friend!
Lopa.
Louis Kasatkin,
Thank you so much. Your comments and insights add so much value to my poems, they are much sought after and valued! Delighted to be a small part of Destiny Poets 🙂
My pleasure.Thank you too for being part of our ever growing,expanding and evolving International Community of Poets.We are all equal stakeholders in this adventure.
And thank you, Kamlesh Acharya!!
It quiet reminds me of a Tamil poet who questions everything that happens in life through a dialogue style. End of it ..God replies that all the experiences one goes through in life is verily the experience of the divine!.. Legendary and beautifully Woventhoughts.. Hugs to You ! Love and Light!
Thanks a lot, Divyakala, for your gracious understanding and insights! Much, much appreciated and cherished! Thanks once again.
Love and hugs,
Lopa.
Insightful and nicely woven.
Gopali Lahiri, thanks a lot for your beautiful comments, Sir!
Such a lovely poem… I love how you drive the reader through the maze of your emotions that are woven into the cityscape… So many beautiful images and powerful analogies. The style, rhythm and pacing work very well, too. My very favorite descriptions and lines are: I weigh out my latitudes and longitudes of leaving; and The default settings of my memories.
I also like: wheels crushing footprints like dismantled crumbs; chewing my pie slices of proximity; and the city calls me out in broken syllables.
Really moving and well done!
Thank you so much for your beautiful comments, Lisa Ellis…so enriching and inspiring!!
Best,
Lopa.
Beautiful read and write. A nice job.