ILA Magazine
Where Culture Meets Creativity
Feature: Amitabh Mitra
Dr. Amitabh Mitra wrote a Semi-Autobiographical Collection of prose poems and charcoal drawings back in 2015, titled, "Stranger Than a Sun", writing his experiences in the trauma sector North East India, Kingdom of Bhutan, Niger, Zimbabwe and South Africa. If you are interested in in his book, it can be found on Amazon at:
https://www.amazon.com/Stranger-than-Sun-Amitabh-Mitra/dp/0620552964/ Amitabh Mitra was influenced by William Dalrymple's book on Delhi, City of Djinns, his charcoal sketching is titled, "Gwalior Memories.' Also included below, on page 43 of his book, "Stranger Than a Sun", his poem of Old Delhi.
On page 44, another poem from "Stranger Than a Sun" , also included. Dr. Amitabh Mitra recently wrote 'The Crossing', a poem in regards to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, he has given ILA permission to feature.
THE CROSSING
I remember giving cricket kits
to children of the white desert
the chieftain's wrinkled face use to lit up
after all, we are in Chaman
'Allah's garden'
sometimes even I went
just to see children play
Spin Boldak
is the white desert
where there are no more children
the whiteness has turned grey
a sun was shot down
Afghans holding to these
pieces
cross on to Chaman
where today there is no sun, too
hope is only a dying sun
cricket bats trampled
broken
a child cries
© 2021
Below, a poem on the Panjshir Valley:
PANJSHIR
far beyond
far beyond the
Hindu kush
craggy
corridors to many heavens
where a sun never sets
fearing a takeover by dragons
of the night
Panjshir Valley
in stark verdant green
beckons such indifferent
dreams
such radical
belief
a sniper bullet
from its many caves
keeps a legacy open
to its rushing rivers
to its unchanging
horizons
to
eternal
freedom
© 2021 Dr. Amitabh Mitra is a trauma surgeon at Cecilia Makiwane Hospital in Eastern Cape, South Africa. He is also a poet, artist and publisher. As a widely published poet in web and print, he has held many exhibitions of his poetry art.
'A Slow Train to Gwalior' is a CD of his ten most popular love poems recited against a background of Indian and African traditional music. You can read more about Dr. Amitabh Mitra on his website:
Amitabh Mitra