Nabin Kumar Chhetri
Poetry

Photo Credit: Darkroom Daze

I could have cleaned my Vauxhall Zafira
Sea gulls have pooed all over the roof
and grits as big as my small finger
shine on the doormat.
I could have gone to Raj da’s house
and pressed my finger on a steaming coffee
watched the steam cloud over the glass of my spectacles.
I could have run along the hills of Bennachie
and stopped by the same stream, to hear the sound of water.
I could have placed my son on my belly
and sung him a nursery rhyme.
I could even have written a letter to my old friend
back in the hills of Darjeeling.
This June morning, I am just lying out in my garden
at the back of my semi-detached house
hearing the lawn mower of my neighbour
smelling the freshly cut grass, reminding me
of one hundred things, I could have done.

Nabin Kumar Chhetri reads for an M.St in creative writing at the University of Oxford. He is a member of Scottish PEN. He graduated with a degree of M.Litt in Novel from the University of Aberdeen. His works have appeared in Lamp Journal, Ink Sweat and Tears, Gutter, Poetry Scotland, Irish Literary review, S.N Review, Apple Valley Review, The London Grip, Forge Journal, Wayfarers, Shot Glass Journal, Ricepaper Magazine, Penny Dreadful, The Sun, Nosside Poetry Anthology 2010, Quest, Spinny Babbler, Mawaheb, Poetry Quarterly, Fade Poetry Journal, Cynic Magazine, Tower Journal, Poetic Justice — Amnesty International Anthology, Poetry Super Highway, Taj Mahal Review, Revival, Reverie Poetry Journal, Sixers Review, The Essence, The Kathmandu Post, Red Ochre Lit Journal, Nosside Poetry Anthology 2011, Birds Eye Review, The Dupage Valley Review, Benedictine University’s Press and Verse Wisconsin. Email: nabin11111[at]yahoo.com