Two Poems by Kavita Ezekiel Mendonca

 

Recreating Home

Almost human in their intuitiveness
The objects sensed we were leaving home
Going far away, the possibility of return, slim.
Determined not to be left behind
after sixteen years of gracing our lives
they snuggled themselves into suitcases
among the clothes and personal effects. 

The green Kashmiri carpet,

the tall walnut lamp, the Indian dolls,

the samovar, the hookah,

the shawls, the small walnut lamps,

the photo albums shedding their covers

like snakes shedding their skins.

No missing out on this adventure.

 

Convinced they could enhance the experience,

reduce the ache for the homeland, they travelled.

Worth it to endure the cold in the hold of the plane

Only the luggage restrictions could limit home

or more objects might have made the journey.

 

The Book of Children’s Bible stories decided it was too heavy

Though it was worth its weight in gold.

 

The Beatles' song ‘She’s leaving Home,’ hums in my head.

Father’s words, “ Stay and do something for your country.”

 

Three flights and countless miles later

Buying an unfamiliar brand of milk

from the convenience store across the park

The urge to make chai, the stamp of every Indian

Sans chai one is never fully at home,

The owner wanted to know where we learned English.

 

Then there was that object

That travelled unbeknownst to us

The door from a friend’s home

a separation of living room from dining room

installed itself, picture perfect, transforming magically

into our magnificent sunroom door

memories of friendship in the smell of its wood,

A door can make you feel at home!

 

The only things we couldn’t bring

Were the mountains, the valley, the mists

the smell of the pines, the roar of the panther,

the paths covered in soft seductive red

as the Rhododendron dropped their flowers

the chai shop at Jabarkhet on Tehri Road

where a cup of tea for a small price

Included the splendour of the Himalayan mountains

A glimpse of the plains of Dehra Dun between.

 

(Published in Verse-Virtual)

 

Pájaros en la Calle

(Birds in the Street, in Spanish)

 

In the Land of Eternal Spring,

my granddaughter, not quite three yet

stands by the window in a hotel room

her hips swaying in a dance

left to right, left to right, round and round.

Suddenly she calls to her father

‘Papi, Papi, pájaros en la calle.’

 

He rushes to the window

a bird swoops down from above

falls gracefully to the street below.

‘Pájaros en la calle’, she cries repeatedly,

pointing to the bird in motion.

The bird keeps swooping from sky to ground

Seems to put on a show just for her

It has caught her excitement.

 

In another city in another continent

I stand at the kitchen window

watching a bird with a long pointed beak

flaming red underside, singing sweetly

on the roof of the neighbour’s garage

that juts out onto my backyard.

 

I look up a book of Canadian birds

I discover it’s a red breasted Nuthatch.

I say to myself ‘ pájaros en la calle’

The little girl is a poet with perfect imagery

A birdwatcher like her great-grandfather!

Someday I will read his poem “Poet, Lover, Birdwatcher’ to her

She will understand the bond, I know.

 

I have yet to meet my granddaughter

My new home is where she is

where there are ‘ pájaros en la calle’

Where there is poetry, dance, and mountains

Love of a pure and undistilled kind.

 

My imagination has bridged the continents

The birds in her country are different

From the birds here where I am

Their songs of love may sound different

There are ‘pájaros en la calle’

in every land

 

Only one little girl

Leaves me yearning for that home

In the land of eternal spring.

 

(Published in Verse-Virtual)

 

Kavita Ezekiel Mendonca’s first book of poems, 'Family Sunday and other Poems', was published in 1989. Her poem ‘How to Light up a Poem', was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. ‘Light of The Sabbath’ is her recently published chapbook. She has taught English, French and Spanish, in private schools in India and overseas, for over four decades. Her poems have been published in several anthologies, including the Journal of Indian Literature published by The Sahitya Akademi, and the three issues of the Yearbooks of Indian Poetry in English. She holds a Master’s Degree in English and French from the University of Bombay, and a Master’s Degree in Education from Oxford Brookes University in Oxford, England. Kavita is the daughter of the late poet Nissim Ezekiel.