Jagari Mukherjee

Alter Ego

Where Love is my alter ego,
woman-ripe, full of cherry-type juice...
(groomed impeccably and flawlessly made up;
Louboutin-shod with red undersides
to my higher-than-high heels).
My once-burnt soul now knows
how peace feels--
let you and I sign a truce.

Open the sluice gates and let
Pain leave and cleanse me yet.
I shed the Dark Out-Of-Season
like clothes that commit the treason
of the unenchanting.
(How can my story be full
of ranting?)

So,
I give you Love in wild Versace
and flower-red Louboutin shoes--
take her and with me sign a truce.

#CeWoPoWriMoWE ’21

Kameez

My thin floral kameez
with purple-striped shalwar
fits me no longer

I feel un-beautiful
and disown my red burning soul
till you ask for more

I decide to go bare
and let you dust the
crust and the core



2

The land of my body
grows to encompass
the expanse of experience

You survey the thrilling terrain
of mountains and valleys
rolling moors
narrow passes to shame a silk route
and a few inroads in the spaces
between my fingers and toes



3

My thin floral kameez
fits me no longer

I embrace the evening
I open a door

Sometimes I let you drink
in the lamplight

Sometimes, I let you explore

#CeWoPoWriMoWE ‘19

Fourteenth

I wish you'd sing 'Chaudavin ka chand' for me.
Instead, you comment
on the expensive brand of tea
I bought at the market.

You upbraid me
on my pricey taste
in instant coffee and Stevia.
I'm addicted (you say) to caffeine.
I'm addicted to the high.

You do not hear me sigh
or observe the corner
of my eyes--the hidden tear,
pearlescent, full moon 
on our fourteenth night.

#CeWoPoWriMoWE ’21

Jagari Mukherjee is a poet, editor, and reviewer based in Kolkata, India. Her poems and other creative pieces have been published in different venues both in India and abroad. She has authored three collections of poetry, a chapbook and two full-length volumes. Her latest solo book, The Elegant Nobody, was published by Hawakal Publishers in January 2020. Her e-book Wine-Kissed Poems (2020), co-authored with Dr. Ampat Koshy, was an Amazon No. 1 bestseller. Her poems and other creative pieces have been published in different venues both in India and abroad. She is a gold medalist in English Literature, a Best of the Net 2018 nominee, DAAD scholar from Technical University, Dresden, Germany, and a Bear River Writers' Conference alumna. She is the winner of the Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize 2018 for Book Review, Poeisis Award for Excellence in Poetry 2019, and also the recipient of Reuel International Prize for Poetry 2019, among other awards. She recently won the Women Empowered Gifted Poet  (Powerful Emergent Voice) Award. Jagari is the Founder and Chief Executive Editor of the literary journal, EKL Review.