ASHOK NIYOGI

two poems

BLOCKED IN

Rockslides in front of me
Take the road away,
Mud and uprooted trees
Take the road away,
Just round a bend
I have crossed.

Suspended above a gorge
Between river a mile below
And sky miles above,
Driving rain,
Clouds eat up pines.

Puddles form and run away
Between myself and me.
 

PHOTOGRAPH

Nothing between
The sun and me.
Sheep stewarded
By the man and his dog
Across the road
And up the next incline,
After the last straggler is gone
I will be alone,
Standing just where I am.

I must move on,
Wash my face
By the mountain stream,
And enter the interplay
Of light and shade,
Primordial canopies
Of ancient trees.

Purgatory
Shaped by a designer God,
Heaven
Is above the snowline,
Now blinding,
Now hiding in opaque cloud.

Nicholas Roerich,
A pencil sketch will not do,
You need color for this.
 

Note: Roerich, a famous Russian artist and painter,
did a lot of work in the Himalayas. 

Ashok Niyogi was born in Calcutta in 1955. He was schooled all over India in Irish Christian Brothers' Schools and graduated with Honors in Economics from Presidency College. Ashok spent 30 years in the world of International Commerce, fifteen in East Europe and Russia and the CIS. His work has taken him all over the world and he now divides his time between California where his two daughters live, Russia and India. He is currently unemployed because writing poetry is not considered gainful employment, but does have a timber plantation in Goa, India. Ashok has two books of poetry in India - 'Crossroads' and 'Reflections in the Dark' (both from A-4 Publications) and one book of poems from the USA - 'Tentatively' (iUniverse). He has been published extensively on line and in print in the USA, the UK, New Zealand, Australia and Canada in magazines and Anthologies.