Psychoanalysis of the Cab Driver from the Rear Seat
poetry by Aditya Shankar
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[plain working
steering at optimum curvatures] [daydreaming from his shabby uniform about owning a fleet of cars] [listening to the zen of engines tuning to perfection] [linking a car hood noise and its maintenance bill with the overlapping due date of his daughter’s school fees] [worrying about debt and paying up in installments to the garage owner] [deciding against it worrying about the dressing down] [thinking about pledging his wife’s ornaments or remembering] [how the last piece of valuable at home is already pledged] [how he has always been broke: how he could never have a family,] [never walk back to his parents an achiever, that he hid himself in drugs and alcohol] [lived out of de-addiction centers, asylums, police stations with cases of theft, bookings under goonda act] [a rapist under trial, a runaway convict, a pimp with tarts warming my seat, a bootlegger bribing the patrol] [On the way to meet one of the agents] child lock to keep me trapped, crowbar to break open the skull if it is a no] [or plain using the rear-view mirror and I should be looking away,] easing out into the scenery that rushes past the window.] [night scripts a silent drama. Stage: Cab Actors: passenger, cab driver (unnamed)] |
About the writer
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Aditya Shankar is an Indian poet, flash fiction author, and translator. His work has appeared in literary journals of repute and nominated for literary awards, including Best of the Net. Books: After Seeing (2006), Party Poopers (2014), XXL (Dhauli Books, 2018). He lives in Bangalore, India.
Instagram: adityan.s Twitter: @suncave |