Bio
Amritendu Ghosal has recently finished his PhD thesis on alienation in the writings of Allen Ginsberg at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. Previously, he worked at Brown University as a Fulbright FLTA. His works have appeared in Visions (Brown University), Collage and The Hindustan Times. He is the co-editor of Volcano, a literary journal published from BHU. Currently he is translating Rajkamal Chaudhary's works into English.
Amritendu Ghosal
Of Lizards and Poets
Sometimes tenement rooms aren't all that bad.
You can keep an inch or two
Between the wooden almirah and the pink wall.
There you can rear some pet lizards.
Their appetite will keep the bugs away.
On Sundays I smoke all morning
And devise clever ways to say things
About how the famous poets of my country
Buy their ink from the same store.
The lizards help by smiling.
- Why don't you publish too?
- No thank you, I'm lazy.
- How could you be lazy when you're young?
- No thank you.
In tenement rooms such as this one
Even a conversation can be cruelty to animals.