Abhijit Naskar's Blog, page 5

Letter from The Mountaintop (Sonnet 2252) – Abhijit Naskar – Sonnets From The Mountaintop (Cover Reveal)

Cosmos is colored,
all color is kin.
Scarlight makes the mind,
sunlight makes the skin.

Life is nonbinary,
existence is nonbiblical.
When ‘sacred’ is anagram for ‘scared’,
to sin is our Earth Gospel.

Churchill and Columbus belong in the jungle,
loudmouth karens belong in mental institution.
Those who’ve been to the mountaintop,
grow too human for the dunghills of dogma.

Here at the mountaintop, we’re just humans –
no black, no white, no believer, nonbeliever –
here at the mountaintop, we’re each other’s keeper.

Prototype Human (Sonnet 2249) – Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

The pen is my paradise,
the pen is my grave.
Everybody has all the answers,
I seem to have only questions.

Good thing, I don’t know how to write,
methods are obstacle to my madness.
I’m vast enough to contain the world,
asylum pills don’t work on pilgrim brains.

My pen never runs out of ink, because
the pen is an extension of my anatomy.
Madness is the first sign of sanity,
oneness is the seed of infinity.

Stereotypes are sanity of the jungle,
prejudice is sacred in the animal kingdom.
Flags are the poison, cosmos is (my) kin –
I am no stereotype, I am the Prototype Human.

Antiseptic Human (Sonnet 2299) – Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

Some faces, some names, some ideas,
instantly ruin a bigot’s day.
I’m flattered, that the very thought of me
stings like antiseptic on fanatic skin.

I’m flattered to belong to a race,
that causes heartburn to the heartless.
I’m flattered to belong to a religion,
that causes brain-damage to the brainless.

What is my race, you ask –
what is my religion!
That is indeed a fair question,
yet palpable, the answer is not!

A race rooted in rights not ritual,
I belong to the Race called Human.
A faith centered on people not doctrine,
I belong to the Order of Integration.

Quién Poeta, Quién Diablo (Soneto) – Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

¿El poeta? ¿Yo? No sé.
No sé, qué es la poesía –
no sé, cómo escribir –

sólo sé que, no hay poesía
más grande que una vida amable –
no hay divinidad más alta
que un corazón hermoso –

si a esto le llamas poesía,
claro, yo soy el poeta –
si a esto le llamas pecado,
claro, soy el diablo.

Ni poesía, ni filosofía, no sé nada –
sólo sé, inclusividad es vida humana.
Cuando mi voz y tu voz se combinan,
la tierra entera se vuelve sagrada.

The Drunken Polyglot (Sonnet 2300) – Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

I never hankered for booze or drugs,
you know why – because I’m already drunk,
with the most hard-hitting, brain-altering
contraband in history – I’m ever consumed
with languages and cultures.

Latin Passion, Turkish Woundlight,
Nordic Thunder, Celtic Wonder, Afro Grit,
American Ambition, Arabian Adamance,
Chinese Ingenuity, Indian Nonduality –

like rivers running eager to meet in sea,
cultures converged to bring me to life.
I am vast beyond the spell of tribe,
I am the ruin of all resurging reich.

Call it Reich, Empire or Uncle Sam –
Zionist State or Hindu Rashtra –
Animal Kingdoms are found everywhere, still,
reason is to reichs what phenyl is to floor.

There is life outside the cage (Sonnet 2240) – Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

First you grow out of religion,
then you grow out of atheism,
finally you become human.

First you grow out of hot dogma,
then you grow out of cold logic,
finally you become human.

First you grow out of nation,
then you grow out of narrative,
finally you become human.

However, it’s alright,
if you can’t outgrow it all –
just acknowledge life outside your cage,
to be almost human is still enough human.

The Man With No Roots (Sonnet) – Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

The day children are raised
without religion and nationality,
that’s the beginning of peacemaking,
and the empirical end to warmongery.

Either raise your children with
no religion or multiple religions,
either raise your children with
no culture or multiple cultures.

I grew up celebrating Diwali,
eating fruitcake on the 25th,
and waking up to the call of Azaan –
if I’m devout anything, it’s a devout human.

I have no roots, for I am the roots;
I am the ruin of all heritage of lies.
Illegal Immigrant in every state,
for I come from a Time beyond tribes.

The Sonnet is Civilization (Sonnet 2235) – Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

I hear, ‘just because you’re a citizen,
doesn’t mean you’re an american’.
I say, just because you’re american,
doesn’t mean you’re a civilized human.

I hear, ‘just because you’re a citizen,
doesn’t mean you’re english or australian’.
I say, just because you’re english or aussie,
doesn’t mean you’re a civilized human.

I hear, ‘hindi bolnese koi hindustani nahi banjaata’,
I say, hindustani bannese koi insan nahi banjaata.
Ved, Koran ya Bible ratta maarnese koi pak ya pavitra
nahi banjaata, there’s no greater granth than chetna.

Tyranny never comes dressed as tyranny,
tyranny always comes dressed as tradition.
İyilik evren benim, tüm kâinat benim mahalle,
dogma de la etnicidad arruina la civilización.

“I turn junk into jewel, I reclaim the fakes as fuel.” – Abhijit Naskar on Fake Naskar Memes

“I have no image that can be smeared, for I long lit the self to cinders.”

“There are many fake memes
floating about the internet,
one of them misquotes me saying –
‘spare the toilet, spoil the floor.’

I turn junk into jewel,
I reclaim the fakes as fuel.
Spare the toilet, spoil the floor.
Spare the fascist, spoil the world.”

The Uncultured Linguist (Sonnet) – Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

The way apes understand what’s cultured,
I’m not that sort of cultured –
I’m humanly cultured – which means,
I live as cure for tribalism, not coddle;

I abolish chains, not worship them,
I do not entertain stereotypes –
I question and denounce prejudice,
both external and internal.

MAGA, Zionism, Hindutva, Prima gli Italiani,
Khalistan, Islamism, Türkiye Yüzyılı,
these are proof, we come from the monkeys;
while humans take a snooze, monkeys roam free.

Dogma is barrier to understanding,
blind faith is obstacle to holiness.
Assumption is obstacle to communication,
stereotypes are obstacle to awareness.