Haunted

I see a teenager with glasses
Panting after a bus
An elderly leans over
With magnifying glass and newspaper
A young couple
Takes shy fleeting glances
The school bell rings
A friend yells “you’re late, buck up”

A man in a nasal tone
Proclaims to drive out
Rats, mice and all pests
With a magic potion
A seller with flutes
Stirs a dreamy tune
On lazy afternoons
Robbing sleep
The Pied Piper
In a bustling city…

The lawyer next door
Returns from court
The wheels of his fiat
Flattening pebbles
On the driveway
A talkative aunt knocks
With a plate of sweets
A birthday
Or anniversary
The telephone continues to buzz
Loud jarring voices argue
Over domestic trivia

Siblings throng near the transistor
Blaring cricket commentary
Of an ongoing Indo-Pak series
While others rave over
A raging screen icon

The pungence of coconut oil
From freshly bathed hair
Let loose in the winter sun
And the fragrance of glycerin
The sandal incense of descending dusk…

Was this all a dream
Or a whiff of nostalgia
Am I in a haunted city
Searching for ghosts and haunts
And yesteryears…

Dr Supatra Sen, currently Associate Professor in a reputable Kolkata college is a veteran academician, teaching and researching in the fields of Botany and Environment. Her over hundred twenty publications as international books, papers and reviews are chiefly in her professional subject. She has edited several UGC funded ISBN volumes and is also the founder and Chief Editor of an ISSN peer-reviewed multi-disciplinary academic journal Harvest since 2016. Her tryst with poetry writing began in 2020 during the global pandemic and in October 2021 her poetry anthology My Autumn Sonata was published. Read other articles by Supatra.