Carving Rocks – Abhijit Sarmah

I tried to carve a hymn
on a rock one summer night until
stars cumulated on my sleeves
and every single word became
a distinct footnote in my memory—

invisible rainbows threw down
their fillets and the moon sang her
songs on holy faces crying to
dead valleys and eventually prying,
half-blind by one dead season—

the fog, too, gently hummed
its cold electric mantras — the night
slowly turned to a mother’s killing rage:
storming, thundering, raining unpicked colors,
I became one side of a truth and a hammer.

Abhijit Sarmah is currently based in the Indian state of Assam and is also a Masters in English fellow in the University of Dibrugarh, Assam (India). Sarmah has contributed to various online and print journals, including South 85 Journal and Salmon Creek Journal. Sarmah has also authored a chapbook titled The Voice Under Silence (2016) and has received favourable reviews from local dailies and magazines. Sarmah wrote it at age nineteen.