Standstill

By Tirtho Banerjee

"These poems, essentially about memories, are an attempt to give voice to some

reflections through words. These are vignettes of events and situations that drift

like clouds.

Memories - some deeply personal and some recalled objectively - stay etched in

the remote corners of our minds. They accompany us almost all the tim

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ukiyoto Publishing
• Release date: Jul 27, 2023
• ISBN: 9789361723315

Book preview

Standstill

When memories beckon words

Tirtho Banerjee

Ukiyoto Publishing

All global publishing rights are held by

Ukiyoto Publishing

Published in 2023

Content Copyright © Tirtho Banerjee

ISBN

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated, without the publisher’s prior consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published.

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Author’s Note

Imagine there were no memories. Imagine there were no thoughts of the past, no effort made by us to go back in time and recollect an event, or a feeling.

How would our lives be then? Just living the present and planning and thinking about an unpredictable future. Wouldn’t life be a set of limited experiences? Wouldn’t it to be too drab?

Memories are about a time we have lived or felt. It is about experiences that have made a home in us. Our future is built on our present and our present on our past experiences. 

It is with this thought that I decided to write these poems about memories and past episodes. It took me around 3 years to unburden them. However, I haven't been able to pour out many of them. They will, I hope, in some form or the other later.

I thank all those who have inspired me and remain faceless behind these poems. I also thank those faces and eyes that will read them. 

All writing should be honest. I hope these poems reflect honesty. If they create an impression otherwise, I deem it to be my shortcoming.

For all those minds who can’t stop revisiting their past

Contents

I STRIVE

HELPLESSNESS

THE SHOCK

BLAZING IMAGES

NO VAIN VISION

A SMELL

THEN AND NOW

MOMENTS

WAKEFUL NIGHT

BID TO FORGET

SURVIVING

MIRROR SPEAKS

DESOLATION

AN HONEST EMOTION

A GUILT

A WISH

SHE SAYS I DON'T...

CARRIED AWAY

NOCTURNAL RECLUSE

MEETING

FOOTPRINTS

THAT SPLIT SECOND

LIVING ROCKS

EFFORT

SILENCE

HANGOVER

TRAIL OF TEARS

YOU NEVER KNOW

A NEAR-DEATH

MOMENT-LESS

FORTRESS

IN SILENCE

MISS YOU, ZAFAR JORDAN SAHAB

HAND OF ACHE

IRONY

WHISPER

I TASTED

OUTBURST

SOLITARINESS

GROPING

BITTERNESS

PLIGHT

WHERE'S LOST?

AS SHE SLEPT

LIES

GRASS

HEALING

NOSTALGIA

WAVES

TRAIN

ON A NIGHT

ON THE FOOTBRIDGE

THAT LAMP

VULNERABILITY

A PULSE

UNREST

DELIVERIES

THE WIND

KOLKATA, 2006

THE LAKE

A DRIFTING CLOUD

SCREAMS

LANGUISHING

AFTER BLOODSHED

JASMINES

WINDOW

CONFINED

YEARNING

BURGLED

THOSE STAIRS

RACE

STING

POORIE

THE CAVE

TRACES

THE CYCLE MAN

PAIN OF A PACHYDERM

RAINBOW

SEDIMENT

GHOST CITY

MIGRANTS

FORGETFULNESS

THE EYE CONTACT

TREE

A NIGHT

PINING

TO DADU (GRANDPA)

MUNDANENESS

ANOTHER NIGHT

SOLITARY JOURNEY

SADNESS

DEFIANCE

SANTA

THE KITCHEN

AN EERIE GRIEF

A FIERCE SOB

A PAST DREAD

WOUNDED

HOME

LEAVING

WHO WILL?

HAVOC

SURVIVING ABSENCE

MAA TELLS ME

A FRENETIC FEELING

THIS HEAVINESS

THIS IS MY AGONY

GUILT OF THE HEART

BEFORE WE PARTED

A LOST THOUGHT

RARE TOUCH

I REFLECT TODAY

THESE VEINS

SICKNESS

WHAT DO I WRITE TODAY?

A CHAIN OF LIGHT

A MEMORY'S WHIFF

HOUR OF PARTING

ABANDONED

I FORGOT

A DREAM

MELANCHOLY

THAT IMAGE

PAST AND PRESENT

MAZE

RUINS

SAD RELIEF

ON A COLD MORNING

FEAR

ANOTHER VOICE

HIS SORROW

A CONDITION

BURDEN OF CITY

A WANDERING