To Readers Poem by Sofiul Azam

1. Readers Abroad

What you see is prose, made to look like poetry.
A little fun. Well, pity if lines, however free, rhyme.
If you smell flowers in it, that's a mystery.
And to make you hooked up on it, I mime

cripples, and even roll as I do sort of clowning.
Don't scare me if whipped by agonies, I shout
to give me the last straws as if I were drowning.
Look through the magnifying glass of your doubt.

No, I don't want the tight dress anymore.
A bit of praise for my hard-wrought nonsense
may help you tolerate such an incorrigible bore
like me, perfected by your present tense.

Buy me. Read me. Throw me out like garbage.
Crows may peck at me as I sense their courage.

2. Readers at Home

You all constitute a number I count on my fingers.
This time a few words I've for you to listen to
as long as a bit of your curiosity still lingers.
This country I always carry in me, and those who

prefer me to unleashed dogs out on streets
will remain etched on my copper. I'm sorry
my borrowed tongue listens to my heart-beats.
I don't hate you nor love you either. Don't worry:

I want no camels having to go through a needle
nor comfort as if I sold myself to Mephistopheles.
It's not you, nor will ever be you, who I'll wheedle
for my profit. Seeing you happy is my solace.

But I won't chew a paan with betelnut and ginger
if I ever see you broken and helpless in danger.


from SAFE UNDER WATER (2014)