Star Literature
POETRY

Do not allow the soldiers to kill my doll! : SIX

Translated from Bangla by Anisur Rahman and Daniel Kamete from the poetry collection ‘Do Not Allow The Soldiers to Kill My Doll!’ (Journeyman Books, 2018)
ILLUSTRATION: AMREETA LETHE

Dad, do you know how to build a rocket?

Seems, you do not. You know nothing.

You are good for nothing.

Could you please, find a book about rockets?

Reading that book we get to know how to build a rocket.

Then if we succeed to build a rocket

and show everybody how to do it, that will be great.

Whenever the bad boys come here, we all will fly

In the rockets towards the moon.

We will carry camera with us

And from the moon we will take pictures of the bad boys

While they will not find anybody here to kill.

They will go crazy

and will go back.

Then we will land here by rocket from the moon and

Will give the police the photos of those bad boys.

 

Anisur Rahman, Bengali-Swedish poet and playwright, is a board member at the Swedish Writers' Union. He shares his time between Bangladesh and Scandinavia.

Daniel Kamete, Zimbabwean-British translator, studied English Literature at Uppsala University. He shares his time between London and Uppsala.

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POETRY

Do not allow the soldiers to kill my doll! : SIX

Translated from Bangla by Anisur Rahman and Daniel Kamete from the poetry collection ‘Do Not Allow The Soldiers to Kill My Doll!’ (Journeyman Books, 2018)
ILLUSTRATION: AMREETA LETHE

Dad, do you know how to build a rocket?

Seems, you do not. You know nothing.

You are good for nothing.

Could you please, find a book about rockets?

Reading that book we get to know how to build a rocket.

Then if we succeed to build a rocket

and show everybody how to do it, that will be great.

Whenever the bad boys come here, we all will fly

In the rockets towards the moon.

We will carry camera with us

And from the moon we will take pictures of the bad boys

While they will not find anybody here to kill.

They will go crazy

and will go back.

Then we will land here by rocket from the moon and

Will give the police the photos of those bad boys.

 

Anisur Rahman, Bengali-Swedish poet and playwright, is a board member at the Swedish Writers' Union. He shares his time between Bangladesh and Scandinavia.

Daniel Kamete, Zimbabwean-British translator, studied English Literature at Uppsala University. He shares his time between London and Uppsala.

Comments