Magnificent Coliseum
Manacled by the rambunctious clematis, tiptoed upon by the rust-speckled pigeons these were the exemplary one-roomed tenements whose roofs were the upturned coal iron-boxes’ blazing plates that ironed the blue fabric of the sky with the determination of a one-man army out to crumble a mountain into a handful of dust. To a falcon plummeting down from a skyscraper altitude, slashing the air with its powerful pair of wings appeared this magnificent coliseum formed from circular hills which like descending terrace plantations came to be inhabited by men undone by sluggish existence; rotten lives stained by betel nut and pan masala but was not the new generation adamant to set things right like an iron-box moving across old clothes which warble like withered crops suddenly supplied water after a summery hiatus? There were signs, almost imperial of progress— workshops manufacturing antique handicrafts, statues of gods and cell phones together! And how the erstwhile corners of gullies that reeked of garbage now glimmered with gold-lettered proverbs. This coliseum that is touched by the tangent of the railway line whose engine’s soft gurgling sound is the same as that emanating from the rust-speckled pigeon’s throat presently tiptoeing across the oven-hot roofs of my tremendous town.
Brief Bio: Bhupender K Bhardwaj 30, is a poet and essayist from Mumbai, India. After clearing the UPSC civil services examination 2013, he has worked in the capacity of an IRTS officer with the Ministry of Railways, Government of India. He is a graduate in Sociology from St.Xavier’s College, Mumbai.His poems have been published by Squawk Back, Mad Swirl, Indian Review, The Galway Review, Kingston Creative Writers Blog among others and upcoming in Acumen magazine. He was long listed for The Toto Awards for Creative Writing 2016 in the Poetry category and shortlisted for the Poetry Society Of India’s All India Poetry Competition.