Meat
The day Tinku, the slum-dog,
manages an extra 100 taka
by begging — heads to
the poultry shop and
buys meat.
The day it rains,
Chaudhury sahib roars:
‘Cook beef and hotchpotch, begum!’
and mutters next:
‘Don’t forget to wear the red sari
after taking a shower;
you look ravishing in it!’
The day I learned to love,
crossing the flower market,
went to the butcher’s shop
and barked:
give me meat, bastard
else I’ll eat up the map!
Md Mehedi Hasan is a Bangladeshi poet who lives in the moribund city – Khulna. His writings have been published in The Daily Star, The Daily Observer, The Independent, The Wagon Magazine (Chennai, India), Arts & Letters – Dhaka Tribune.