Poetry: Selections from Ankur Jyoti Saikia

Podcast with Lucifer

A man in a Lucifer is innocent shirt locked his house and ran frantically to his studio. He was to interview Satan for his next podcast episode. He was anxious and dubious, both at the same time. Even in December, the man in a Lucifer is innocent shirt was sweating as if someone did ignite the flames of Hell within his heart. He didn't initially yield to Satan's demand for selling his soul but bargained with his heart, once the podcast episode garnered a million views plus a promise of twelve more episodes. He stopped beside the Church to swiftly mutter his sullen Sunday prayers, stumbled upon voices beside the alley. Satan was offering bread and money to those folks: aged and homeless and young and hopeless. The man in a Lucifer is innocent shirt exclaimed, “We've utterly misunderstood you!” “To err is human, to forgive …..”, Satan sighed.

Everyday

Everyday is a Pandora's box. Everyday is Phoenix's ash. Everyday is Sphinx's riddle. Everyday is Vetala's question. Everyday is a tug of war between a newborn cry of helplessness and its maternal lullaby of indecision. Everyday is a Jesus descending in a Manger and ascending on a Cross. Everyday is God obliterating a Lilith and carving out an Eve. Everyday is God favoring Abel and banishing Cain. Everyday is a Messiah who fakes his virgin birth and a narcissist posing as a Prophet. Everyday is an Antonio spitting on a Jew and a Shylock plotting revenge on a gentile. Everyday is a Sabbath for which a capitalist demands overwork, a preacher asks for abstinence from work and a woke feigning ignorance of its existence. Everyday is a concentration camp, a detention center, an open air  prison. Everyday is a decaffeinated cup of coffee, an adulterated jar of honey, a gilded cup of Hemlock.

Psalm of an AntiChrist 

Unable to fathom those tides in that burden of seas he was carrying, the man in a There was Jesus shirt decided to fake his death. He exhumed his grave and charred his corpse. Years later, his father will call off the engagement with his mother and take up some sort of celibate priesthood to preach a faith where his minions will be worshiping a toxically masculine God. What could be a better revenge? His mother will be ordained nunhood at the Church of Lilith and unanimously proclaimed a virgin. As if her revenge was more humane! Ending every possibility of a Second Coming, those waves in his heart will cease to froth and those seas will dry off into a desert. Hope this Gospel ends well. Amen!

Ankur Jyoti Saikia (he/ his/ him) is a botany researcher based in India, who believes in his self-coined maxim: 'scribble, submit, repeat'.