'Over the years,
I’ve learnt to
Domesticate
My anger
As a reliable pet
When I got it raw
From the wild,
It used to bark at
Every passer-by
Now,
It has mastered
The craft of concealing
Its outbursts
Under the gestures of
Shoulder-shrugging urbanity
My anger knows
When and where to smile,
When and where to say
Sorry,
When and where to harden and shout,
Or to soften and sing,
Where to be high
And where to be low
During the conversations
Enclosing
Go-getting concerns
Over the years,
My anger has learnt
To step into
The pacifist shoes,
Grow in resilience,
Relish verities and
Fallacies
With identical indifference
Now,
My anger has
The patience to wait
For the right time
To go out of me and explode'
© DEEPAK DARSHAK (From my next poetry book, "IF ANYTHING LIKE WAR HAPPENS")
Deepak K. Choudhary is a Delhi-based multilingual litterateur, content creator, editor and translator with a Master’s degree in English literature from Jawaharlal Nehru University. A maverick versifier, as he loves to call himself, he has a curious heart and perceptive eye for life’s multifaceted proscenium and its volatile settings, its seething helms and layered peripheries, enabling him to undertake an engrossing journey through multiple spheres of existence replete with their own narratives and effervescent galaxy of icons, iconoclasts and freaks.
His poems have been featured in a number of literary journals and magazines such as The South Asian Ensemble, Indian Literature, Chrysanthemum Chronicles, Vigil Pub Magazine, INNSAEI, Samakaleen Bharatiya Sahitya, Gagananchal, etc. His two poetry books in English (solo anthologies of poems) titled BIRDS LIKE US and THE CITY NEVER SLEEPS came out in July 2018 and August 2020, respectively. Two other books that are slated for release include his third collection of poems named MOONS, MIRRORS AND MONOLOGUES…’; and his maiden collection of belles-lettres, A PEN-PUSHER’S SCRAPBOOK.
Currently, he is associated with Chrysanthemum Chronicles, the New Delhi-based literary group and publishing platform, as a Senior House Editor.
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