What If The River Refuses To Flow?

What If The River Refuses To Flow?

written by: Pranab Ghosh

@gpranab2012

The bulldozers, the excavators,
The cement mixers. The tree-cutters.
The disappearing forests. The march
Of civilization, threatening life itself!

The river flows on.

The earth-moving machines,
The disappearing holdings of small
farmers, turned marginal.
The corporate farming,
The green houses. The R&D.

The river flows on.

The skyscrapers, the bungalows,
The villas, the apartment blocks.
The disappearing individual houses,
Farm holdings, cinema halls.

The river flows on.

The malls, the multiplexes, the
Squares, the branded garments,
The frozen food, the ready-to-eat, cook stuff.

The river rolls on.

Teeming multitude of men and women,
Sickle in hand, hammer in hand,
spade in hand, wait for jobs.
The government forms policies.

The river flows on.

Is it tractor versus spade,
Land-mower versus sickle,
Hammer versus bulldozers today?

The river rolls on
Gathering silt!

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Pranab Ghosh

Pranab Ghosh is a journalist, writer, poet, translator and blogger. He runs a blog “Existential Problems.” His poems and prose pieces have been published and accepted by Dissident Voice, Spillwords, The Piker Press, Setu Magazine, Pangolin Review, Visual Verse, Memoryhouse Tuck Magazine, Transendent Zero Press, Scarlet Leaf Review, Literature Studio Review, Leaves of Ink, Hans India, etc. He has coauthored a book of poems, titled Air & Age. He has to his credit a translation of a book of Bengali short stories. The title of the English translation is “Bougainvillea and Other Stories”. His second book of poems and first solo book, “Soul Searching and Other Poems” (2017), has been published by Scarlet Leaf Publishing, Toronto. His second collection of poems, “Vision of the World and Other Poems”, has been published by Impspired in November 2020.

Latest posts by Pranab Ghosh (see all)

• Halted Union! - July 25, 2022
• Counting Time - July 26, 2021
• Building Up of An April Storm - April 24, 2021