Runa Bandyopadhyay
Summer 2025 | Poetry
Three Poems
Worm Attack
A stubborn stain still persists
in my worm-eaten ribs
But ignoring pain
I return to the machine
through the sweaty ladder
down
deep down
A close-set of black heads
along the corridor
My helmet tumbles down
Worm attack in my brain too?
As soon as I laugh
all the console’s lights turn red
Buzzer continues to buzz
Trembling water surface
Seabed too
I replace the corrupt flash
by opening the machine’s heart
Obliquity of a Right Angle
Never seen any bees
to pollinate your glossy garden
But a promise was there
to bring new buzz of bees
Rhythm of my heart
will lustre your love
Could you remember?
Never seen any moon
to shine your fancy room
But a promise was there
to draw the delight of my lotus navel
Depth of my desire will enlighten
the endless beats of beauty
Could you remember?
Never seen any green
to renew your drowsy house
But a promise was there
to bring another sun
for making your house a home
Choir of chlorophyll will elevate
vexing vaginity to eternal virginity
Could you remember?
Feathers on the Hanging Ladder
When I’m up against the wall
I feel the touch of feathers
But leaving the sky behind
I'm on a hanging ladder now
Going down
deep down
through darkness
Mysterious womb of yajna
wandering for checkmate
Neutrons start to breath heavily
Perfect exchange
Blurred hot water surface
Helpless surge
beyond the closed window
Mermaid
Green signal
Excitement of delivery
Continuous bubbles
on the surface of time
So weightless
But the day still looks aesthetic
night as magical hints
Folktale floats in media
Ownerless lectures overflow
Slightly above the danger zone
Mermaid
Red signal
I’m on the hanging ladder again
Climbing beyond the danger zone
But all the feathers fall off silently
Runa Bandyopadhyay, a bilingual poet, essayist, translator, and critiqueer from India. She is a scientist by profession but addicted to literary innovation. She born and brought up at Kolkata and lives at Mumbai/Visakhapatnam. Her writings appeared in numerous international journals, namely Kitaab, boundary 2, Sibila, the Decadent Review, Museindia, Ashvamegh, etc along with Bengali print and online magazines. Her critique was translated in Portuguese and published in Sibila along with its English version. In 2019, her poems published in the anthology The End of the World Project. In 2019, she co-edited Bridgeable Lines: An Anthology of Borderless World Poetry, a translation project with 12 numbers of American poets including Charles Bernstein, Murat Nemet-Nejat, Peter Gizzi, Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge etc. She also conducted numerous webinar to interview these American poets during the pandemic years. Runa was invited in a boundary 2 webinar with Yunte Huang, Abigail Lang to join with editor Paul Bové in 2021. She has appeared on various webinar for bilingual reading. Runa has also translated for various Bengali poets including Barin Ghosal, Swapan Ray, Swadesh Sen, Rabindra Guha etc. She authored more than 20 books on poetry, critique, and story in Bengali, and most recent books in English includes Recipe of Possibilities, Nocturnal Whistle, Pataquerical Ballad in collaboration with Charles Bernstein, 50 mm Magical Moments with a poet in collaboration with photographer Pronab Kumar Dey etc.