For the first time
He was at my place coming straight from Kandhamal !!
Do you know where Kandhamal is?
He asked me.
A man from Kerala is asking a man from Odisha-
Do you know where Kandhamal is?
I look at his bearded blank face
We knew, Kandhamal begins where Gujarat ends
The blood and the fire
In Gujarat and in Kandhamal were the same
From there he comes
With blood and fire in his eyes.
What do I do with your eyes?
My words are too little to be blood or fire
I spoke to you in silence
And you captured my silence in your camera.
Now where is my silence of words?
Where is your promise to tell the tale of Ultimate blood and fire
To a deaf and dumb world of ours?
Kedar Mishra is a poet
