In between what happened
is not the story nor history,
it is a painful symmetry
of my poetry

ON MAY DAY

Once, working in factories
for 8 hours
for enduring curses
for facing humiliation
I used to get 30/- Rs. a day

now for a poem
of some 100 words
written in 2 minutes
I get 6000/- Rs.
for a short story, 10000/- Rs;
much has gone
under the bridge of life

In between what happened
is not the story nor history,
it is a painful symmetry
of my poetry

A POET SHOULD GROW LIKE A WEED

a poet shouldn’t grow
in the body of people
like a crop, nurtured
with a harmful chemicals,
fed to people
which in the long run
destroys and hurt their health

a poet should grow
in the heart and mind of people
like weed grows
restlessly, anxious,
with enchanting fragrance
in the blood cells,
making people feel free
make each others appear
loveable

Cover Illustration by Marynn

About the Author

Yogesh Maitreya

Yogesh Maitreya is a poet, translator, curator, and PhD scholar at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. He is a founder of Panther’s Paw Publication, the first anticaste/English publication from Maharashtra which primarily focuses on English translation of Dalit Literature. He is a regular contributor at firstpost.com where he writes about literature, art, cinema, language, and caste. He has translated fiction and nonfiction Dalit literature from Marathi to English. He wrote the first English Dalit short story collection “Flowers on the Grave of Caste”.

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