Photographer Poem by Pradip Saikia

You can click photographs of
A foggy forest
Chilly whimpers
You can click photographs of
Devastated homes
A fire spilling sky
Chirping of a green magpie
You can click photographs of
Grandeur of flaming hunger and heart rending cries
Carnal desires of a monk
Emptiness of a bare begging bowl
You can click photographs of
Airborne nymphs
Amatory God of love
Scene of hell of a proud god
Your vanity will be razed to the ground
I am a woman
I imbibe fire
I incinerate water
I light lamps in the eyes of a dead donkey
I make rocks fly
I tear apart the earth
You can't click a photograph of
The darkness of a mask
An incombustible face
Living mirror of a woman

I am the courtesan Subala
Deceitful Kamakhya

# Translated from Assamese to English by: Bibekananda Chowdhury