Masud Khan’s poem, Dhamkal (Fire Engine), translated from Bengali by Fakrul Alam
Having fled the madhouse, the lunatic darted up the tree.
Nothing would make him come down, he said,
Except for the pleas of that midget-sized nurse!
The nurse came running, quick as a fire engine,
Waving wildly at him. Her gestures were coded messages,
Inducing the lunatic to climb down from the tree top
Just as a koi fish descends on the dining plate.
Entranced by the smell of steaming curry,
He descended easily and freely
As consecutive numbers do when one counts down.
The lunatic’s thoughts flickered across the nurse’s consciousness.
This day that mad man will return once more to his asylum.
Placing his head on the confessional,
He will soundlessly suffer thirteen electric shocks
Designed to induce thirteen confessions from him
At the directive of the calm and composed health priest!
Masud Khan (b. 1959) is a Bengali poet and writer. He has, authored nine volumes of poetry and three volumes of prose and fiction. His poems and fictions (in translation) have appeared in journals including Asiatic, Contemporary Literary Horizon, Six Seasons Review, Kaurab, 3c World Fiction, Ragazine.cc, Nebo: A literary Journal, Last Bench, Urhalpul, Tower Journal, Muse Poetry, Word Machine, and anthologies including Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia, and Beyond (W.W. Norton & Co., NY/London); Contemporary Literary Horizon Anthology,Bucharest; Intercontinental Anthology of Poetry on Universal Peace (Global Fraternity of Poets); and Padma Meghna Jamuna: Modern Poetry from Bangladesh(Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature, New Delhi). Two volumes of his poems have been published as translations, Poems of Masud Khan(English), Antivirus Publications, UK, and Carnival Time and Other Poems (English and Spanish), Bibliotheca Universalis, Romania. Born and brought up in Bangladesh, Masud Khan lives in Canada and teaches at a college in Toronto.
Fakrul Alam is an academic, translator and writer from Bangladesh. He has translated works of Jibonananda Das and Rabindranath Tagore into English and is the recipient of Bangla Academy Literary Award (2012) for translation and SAARC Literary Award (2012).
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