Asit Maitra, retired A&E consultant, RVI, Newcastle, currently finished the
MA (Creative Writing – Poetry),  Newcastle University. Poems published in Acumen,  
Other Poetry, Dream Catcher, Norwich Open Poetry Competition 
Anthologies (1997,2002 & 2004), The Coventry Poetry Prize Anthology, Golden Girl, 
St.Mary’s Lighthouse & Redbeck Anthology of British Asian Poetry. 
Also published a pamphlet, ZIGZAG,  jointly with Pat Borthwick.

 

A CLEAN HOUSE
(i.m. of Mickey)

The lounge is pristine
Like a bed
Not slept in.

I smell no smell –
The trapped smell
Of fart or breath

Or the shit.
The carpet gleams
Where his tray was kept.

I hear no sound –
A croaky soft sound.
Air solid as stone.

My house’s clinically
Clean
But soiled by his absence.



BRUNT-OUT SECONDS


Coming back home from posting
   an early letter to beat the deadline
my eyes focus on the dirty window ledge.

Taking a bowl of water I mix it
       with washing-up soap and clean
sloshing liquid froth over the PVC.

I strike up a rhythm with my hands
      moving to and fro – a rhythm
I am unused to when working on keyboard

spinning imageries with fiction and poems.
     Then I inspect my work and find
stubborn black dots staring, my brunt-out seconds



A SHORT PIECE

This is my short piece.

Prove it, you say.
How can I? It is not mathematical.
But you can count the letters, words,
lines and paragraphs. 
Would that prove my case, I ask. 
You half-smile, you are not sure now
as if I have set you a trap.  What did I mean by
‘A short piece?’ What is short? One line, 
ten lines, a packed A4 page? 
One to infinity?  A life?

Have you defined the question 
before questioning it?
Can you define the question?
Can you taylor a thought without amputating
into lengths it won’t fit in?
Yes you can. What about Haiku?
The message is crystallised, a diamond.
Yes. But is it short enough?
On the other hand may be
it needs to roll on, a wheel,
edging, expanding the limits?

I’ve taken 160 words to say it
but isn’t it fun not define,
just write ‘A short piece?’
Like an epitaph? A short life?

Yours or mine?