SONNET MONDAL: SURVIVAL

Photograph by Corentin Henry on Pexels

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Sonnet Mondal’s poems are remarkable for their ability to express profound truths through clear, simple language, avoiding the obscurity that often alienates readers from modern poetry. In Hungry Faith, the image of a fisherman struggling against an unyielding river quietly captures the relentless weight of poverty, where hope is a constant but exhausting effort. Bazaar Children deepens this theme by contrasting working children with school-bound ones, using the metaphor of an anchor rooted in hunger to show how circumstance binds their desires to mere survival. Finally, A Conversation shifts inward, showing how news of violence, both personal and political, shatters a moment of private peace, symbolised by the disappearance of a dove’s call. Across these poems, Mondal relies on precise, vivid imagery rather than overt commentary, allowing the emotional weight of each scene to emerge naturally and leaving a quiet but lasting impact on the reader.

Ars Notoria

Hungry Faith

The fisherman in the Sundarbans
was hauling his boat out of mud
and into an intoxicated river.

Between the prow and his hands
a sweat-soaked turban
hollowed out the sounds of struggle.

His bulging veins more resolute
than the wary holes
of the fishing net—soaking up the sun.

The stooping trees of the forest
tried to lend a hand
but, held by the riverbank,
moaned in the wind.

The water looked warm
but didn’t rise to the boat.

Somewhere in the fragmented sun
hunger was savouring muddy toil.

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Bazaar Children

The bazaar is in its early-morning hours.
Haggling has taken over the vegetable market.
Trucks full of cabbages are being unloaded.
School bus conductors shout
to make way through crowded streets.

A few teenagers and kids help their parents
sell meat, fish, and vegetables
while watching the faces
of school-bound children.

Faces slide in front of the shops and fade away
into their growing loneliness in the crowd.
With the sun moving over their huts
the sounds of bargaining grow.

An anchor rooted in the riverbed of hunger
has bound their desires.
The boat must have enough food
to sail before nightfall.

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A Conversation

Inside my room this afternoon
the repeated call of a spotted dove
assured me that I could sleep.
Outside there was peace
and inside warmth in my bed.

A pop-up sound in my mobile phone
brought news of a death.

You remember the burning ghat we visited
during your grandma’s funeral?
Me: Yes, I do.

There was a drunk person doing kirtan
in a raucous tone?
Me: Yes, I remember him too.

Someone has murdered him.
Me: Yes?
I heard so.

Me: Were you keeping track of him?
No. But I heard.

Me: Did you hear about the farmer
who died yesterday at the protest?
How? Perhaps an unestablished murder too?

Outside, in the neighbouring marriage hall
crackers started bursting.

Me: I was listening to the call of a spotted dove.
What about it?

Me: I don’t hear it anymore after your message. Do you think
it has been murdered too?

Your thoughts have rusted.
Me: It’s not just me. The outside isn’t at peace anymore.

The paperweight over my sleep was removed.

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Sonnet Mondal is an Indian English poet and director of Chair Poetry Evenings – Kolkata International Poetry Festival. He has represented India as an invited poet at literary festivals in more than 30 countries and his works have been translated in over 20 languages. His ten books of poetry include Clamour for a Handful of Rice (Copper Coin 2025), An Afternoon in My Mind (Copper Coin 2022), and Lautati Dopaharein (Rajkamal Prakashan 2024). His latest poems and works have appeared in The Adroit Jounral, The McNeese Review, Virginia Quarterly, Poetry Salzburg Review, Altazor, World Literature Today, La Otra Magazine, Words Without Borders, and The Markaz Review among others. His work has also appeared in the Singing in the Dark and Greening the Earth anthologies published by Penguin Random House, India. Sonnet is the first and only Indian poet to be included in the Versopolis (Creative Europe Program of the European Union). He is the recipient of Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi award of honour and Gayatri Gamarsh Memorial award for literary excellence. He was a part of the Silk Routes Project, IWP IOWA from 2014 to 2016 and a guest writer in residence at the Almaty Writing Residency program (jointly hosted by OSLA and IWP, IOWA) in 2023 and 2025. He is the managing editor of Verseville, editor of the Indian section of Lyrikline, Berlin, and has served as a guest editor for Words Without Borders, New York.