By Poetry, The Magazine February 3, 2015

Poem by Samudra Kajal Saikia

 

Matchstick Monologue

I was a matchstick,

I remained useful for many-

In many ways.

 

Many people removed the wax from their ear with me

here and there.

Many people used me to clean their teeth

after the meal.

 

Young ladies made many decorative

before they get set for marriage.

And when there was an electricity wiring problem

I fixed the loose wires to the

switchboard.

 

I showed many games! Many a magic!

many mathematical equations I have solved

and explained geometry very well.

 

I was a matchstick,

and I remained useful for many.

But the things for what I was born:

I didn’t do.

Even after serving so many purposes

I didn’t do things that I were meant to do.

 

I couldn’t put fire in your hearts

for what I came on earth.

 

Yeah! I was a matchstick otherwise.



A practitioner of interdisciplinary art practices (including performance, public art and videos) and a writer. A master of Visual Arts, specialized in art history, and the founder Creative Director of Kathputlee Arts and Films, New Delhi. I am also engaged into a self-driven theatrical practice coined as the Disposable Theatre that works in the multidisciplinary paradigms. I was recipient of the FICA Public Art Grant for 2010, and Ila Dalmia Research Grant for 2014 for research on Contemporary Indian Performance Art.

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