Fourteen Poem by Nabaneeta Dev Sen

Fourteen sticks to my hair like a blob of chewing gum
Adolescence in my palms
Moonwax trickling over my brow
Sum total: zero
Dream upon dream
Sum total: zero
Like adding dew to the wind…
This green mantle
Inside my eyes filling my eyes covering my eyes
Spread out on the dust
This green mantle
Step on it for a moment
Won’t you
Should I call it love
Should I call it longing
Inside my head these dark forests
In my heart these sixty miles of empty highway
Desolate
Jamming my jaws, rocks
Choking my throat, sand dunes
Roaring inside my head, cascades
Within my eyes filling my eyes overflowing my eyes
The moon
Stars at my fingertips
Adolescence in my palms
Five rivers gushing out between the fingers of my clenched fist
The tears of the teens melt into the air
Unfree

[Translated by the poet]