Whatchamacallit

Evening slips down
wavering, a hesitant curve—
a dim-lit wharf,
steps descending to the river

Here—right here—
under a spread of fading light,
the sun’s buried roots,
a murmur of songs,
or perhaps
an unknown hero
history forgot.

Just then —
The touch, light on my back…

And I know:
it’s time to go home.

_______________________________
19 December 2024
(Mahamaya Hotel, Panbazar, Guwahati

Editor’s Note:

Whatchamacallit iis a poem of twilight—of light and dark, motion and stillness, presence and departure. Twilight here does not signify a specific hour; rather, it functions as a metaphor for uncertainty, where the journey remains indeterminate and direction dissolves into haze. The poem gestures toward multiple possibilities yet withholds any fixed course. This indeterminacy is deliberate, and the very title quietly affirms it.

The 'returning home' marks a subtle shift from abstraction toward an inward movement—a turning back to the self.

Stylistically, the poem is concise and evocative. Its restrained, cautious pace acts as a compass, guiding the reader through silences where emotion is held rather than declared. Silence and inward feeling emerge as the poem’s central forces.

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