Bimal Kishore Shrivastw
Each one, in this world, is entangled
in a chain of chases.
A cat chases an indisposed rat
until it hides in a hole.
The very bossy cat flees at the dog’s bark;
and the very domineering dog
is threatened by a meandering bull,
or another potent hound.
A frog chases grasshoppers, butterflies,
or just anything else that fits in its mouth.
The very frog is menaced by the snake.
I wonder how quickly our office-bearers,
accustomed to chasing attendants as cats,
are alarmed at the barks of upper-level dogs.
[Bimal Kishore Shrivastwa, PhD is an Assistant Professor of English at Post Graduate Campus, TU, Biratnagar. His anthology of poems, Fad Fervors has been published by Litlight Publication, Pakistan in September, 2020. Some of his poems and short stories have also been published on Sahitto.com, Bangladesh, The Writers Club, USA, Offlinethinker.com, The Gorkha Times and Sahityapost.com, Nepal.]
Ostensibly about domineering dogs and meandering bulls, Bimal Ji’s never-ending chain of chases are highly reminiscent of Wallace Stevens.