Poetry at Sangam
Poetry at Sangam showcases poetry in English and translations as well as essays on poetics and news of new releases.
We are not Alexander, who conquered worlds
giving them new tongues, but we share the story
of a ship resting on an African river, unbuckling
at its shore, awakened by the night’s cold hard rain,
staring at the face of the Nile as it reminds you
You are a hawk
silent in the voice
of a midnight universe
What makes a man name a city after himself,
asking bricks to be bones, asking the wind
to breathe like the lungs of the night,
asking the night to come closer, to speak
to you as a tribe, asking the tribe to sleep,
asking sleep to loosen its language, asking
language to dream? Come close to me.
Can you not see that I am in search of fire,
The unshapen song of light? In my mouth
is a name hovering like smoke, spoken to me
by the oracle. Like others, I was in search
of a forest, a place to call home.
But what can I tell you about Kingdom,
about having the world at your feet?
When you have seen all the earth’s boundaries,
you will crave for mirrors, searching for them in streams,
and when the river looks back at you
how will you be sure that nothing is lost?