Unlettered Longings
Poetry by Abin Chakraborty
ukiyoto, June 2022

Our hearts are not designed to beat to beaten tracks – they have rhythms and quests and seasons of their own which often veer away from established norms and the set motions of everyday existence. Naturally, therefore, we are always entangled in longings — conscious or unconscious which punctuate our days, nights, dreams, writings and much more. The poems in this collection are reflective of such longings, at times foolish, at times desperate, at times mundane, but always authentic. These longings stem from human beings — eternal quests for love, for beauty, for understanding, for solidarity, for recognition. Such quests, of course, are not always fulfilled and the failed and thwarted pursuits bring about their own notes of disillusionment, frustration, anger, self-loathing, and self-deception as well. These poems take all such affects into account while negotiating with the shadows that fall between dreams and reality, between desire and experience, between aspirations and limitations. It is hoped that the reader will find among these lines various echoes of their own myriad experiences which will better illuminate the labyrinthine mazes of our own hearts and souls while securing solace, pleasure, strength, and most importantly, a realm of communion beyond the sutures of the self.