Moist is the Heart
Moist is the heart
of the red rusted rock
There she came
the black female scorpion
with the same moisture within her
and vanished
after laying a thousand white eggs
on my back
The Window Without a Wall
I await you
near a window without a wall.
I feel
you will come in nonchalantly
from the back door
of my house without walls.
I become a word without language
and wait
at the edge of utterance.
In front of me lies the mute embrace
of a diaphanous valley.
From this wall with no windows,
I view the earthy wings of autumn .
From the wall with windows,
I see a desolated path lost in mists.
I become simply a sigh
and wait near
the window without a wall.
S
achin Ketkar is a Marathi bilingual writer, translator and critic based in Gujarat, India. He works as Reader in the Department of English of The MS University of Baroda and as a contributing editor for New Quest, a journal of participatory cultural inquiry based in Mumbai. He holds a Doctorate in Translation Studies and has translated and edited Live Update: an Anthology of Recent Marathi Poetry (Poetrywala Publications, Mumbai, July 2005). He has also translated contemporary Gujarati short story writers like Nazir Mansuri and Mona Patrawala along with Gujarati poets like Narsinh Mehta (15th century AD) into English.
Apart from two collections of Marathi poems (Jarasandhachya Blogvarche Kahi Ansh published in 2010 and Bhintishivaicya Khidkitun Dokavtana published in 2004 both by Abhidhanantar Prakashan, Mumbai), he has a collection of English poems titled A Dirge for the Dead Dog and other Incantations (Sanbun Publishers, New Delhi, 2003).
Moist is the heart
of the red rusted rock
There she came
the black female scorpion
with the same moisture within her
and vanished
after laying a thousand white eggs
on my back
The Window Without a Wall
I await you
near a window without a wall.
I feel
you will come in nonchalantly
from the back door
of my house without walls.
I become a word without language
and wait
at the edge of utterance.
In front of me lies the mute embrace
of a diaphanous valley.
From this wall with no windows,
I view the earthy wings of autumn .
From the wall with windows,
I see a desolated path lost in mists.
I become simply a sigh
and wait near
the window without a wall.
S
achin Ketkar is a Marathi bilingual writer, translator and critic based in Gujarat, India. He works as Reader in the Department of English of The MS University of Baroda and as a contributing editor for New Quest, a journal of participatory cultural inquiry based in Mumbai. He holds a Doctorate in Translation Studies and has translated and edited Live Update: an Anthology of Recent Marathi Poetry (Poetrywala Publications, Mumbai, July 2005). He has also translated contemporary Gujarati short story writers like Nazir Mansuri and Mona Patrawala along with Gujarati poets like Narsinh Mehta (15th century AD) into English.Apart from two collections of Marathi poems (Jarasandhachya Blogvarche Kahi Ansh published in 2010 and Bhintishivaicya Khidkitun Dokavtana published in 2004 both by Abhidhanantar Prakashan, Mumbai), he has a collection of English poems titled A Dirge for the Dead Dog and other Incantations (Sanbun Publishers, New Delhi, 2003).
