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কেটে নেয়া মাথা, রক্তের ফোঁটা,
পিরিচে দু’ চোখ নড়েচড়ে উঠে
দ্যাখে চুপচাপ: দু’ ফাঁক যোনির
ভেতরে সাপের মোচড়ানো লেজ,
গহ্বরে ছোটা। রাত, সাবধান!
ঘুমের মধ্যে অস্ত্রোপচার -
পোড়া ছাই, ধার অস্ত্রের ফলা,
সুতো, যকৃত্; সুনসান ফাঁকা:
ছুরি...‘চুপ করো’...ছুরি...চিত্কার...
শবাধারে চিত্, ছুরিচিকিত্সা।
অদৃশ্য গলা, ‘যুগ যুগ ধরে
অপেক্ষা যাঁর শেষ রাত্তিরে
আসবেন তিনি; ততক্ষণ আমি
দেখি বুক চিরে, তুমি তো কখনো
আস্ত ছিলে না।’ আলগা শরীর
চান্দ্র হলুদে কেউ নয় চেনা
হাজার ঘোড়ার দামামা পিটছে
আবহবাতাস...মাতাল গন্ধ...
আধো জাগা শব...দেহহীন ভার...
আর নীল লাল রুপালি নীরব।

Sajjad Sharif

This poem by Sajjad Sharif was written in the 80's when Bangladesh was under President Ershad’s military regime. The whole situation was suffocating - the torture on the people, sense of insecurity and the oppression - the poem was a product of such a time. It also portrays the kind of personal struggle the poet was going through. The poem is a mix of private and public experience. One can also see the influence of surrealism, especially, that of Luis Bunuel and Paul Éluard. I was fascinated with how the poet created images through words, which were very abrupt, violent yet superbly poetic.

I am viewing the poem from a contemporary perspective, as even though two decades have passed, we continue to live in a very violent and suffocating time. When I started working on the poem, one of my colleagues was kidnapped and his dead body was found the next day in a barren field. He was just one of many, of the repeated killings of writers and bloggers and the oppression on the people by a fascist government.

I have provided a personal interpretation, while trying to keep the essence of the poem. The video reflects the suffocation we are going through, violent, absurd and to some extent, very difficult to connect to, as well as our inability to give meaning to anything.