INSTINCTS #24: ‘The Akashic Yatra’ by Sultana Raza (3/3)

Today, it’s my pleasure to present Sultana Raza’s final poem, ‘The Akashic¹ Yatra^2′.

Read her first two poems here:

#22: ‘Inter-dimensional Classified Ad’ by Sultana Raza (June 10th, 2021)

#23: ‘Quantic Chance’ by Sultana Raza (June 14th, 2021)

Which poem has been your favorite? Let me know in the comments. ~Kelly~

THE AKASHIC¹ YATRA²

We could have
saved our skin
by going
to the Terra Purana³
on this
vayu-vimana⁴

if only
I hadn’t
exchanged
my sensorial body

and if
the lens of my left netra⁵
or the cells
of my right cornea
were still intact

or if the last
functional robot
wasn’t illiterate
in ancient Sanskrit…

Pity
that no real manav⁶
wishing to get out of maya⁷
will benefit from
my virtually hard lesson.

Glossary
1 cosmic
2 voyage
3 ancient
4 space ship
5 eye
6 human being
7 the illusory material world

~~Original Version in French~~

LE YATRA¹ AKASHIC²

On aurait pu
sauver notre peau
en allant
au Terra Purana³
à bord de ce
vayu-vimana⁴

si seulement
je n’avais pas
échangé
mon corps sensoriel

et si
les lentilles de mon netra⁵ gauche
ou les cellules
de la cornée droite
étaient encore intactes

ou si le dernier
robot fonctionnel
n’était pas analphabétique
en sanscrit ancien…

Dommage
qu’aucun vrai manav⁶
souhaitant sortir du maya⁷
ne profitera pas de
ma leçon virtuellement dure.

Glossaire :
1 voyage
2 cosmique
3 ancien
4 vaisseau spatial
5 l’œil
6 l’être humain
7 l’illusion du monde matériel.

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Sultana Raza has an MA in English Literature. Her creative non-fiction has appeared in Literary Ladies Guides, Literary Yard, countercurrents.org, Litro, impspired, pendemic.ie, Gnarled Oak, Kashmir Times, and A Beautiful Space. Her 100+ articles (on art, theatre, film, and humanitarian issues) have appeared in English and French. An independent scholar, Sultana Raza has presented many papers related to Romanticism (Keats) and Fantasy (Tolkien) in international conferences in the USA, Ireland, the UK, France, Greece, Norway, and CoNZealand (online).

Of Indian origin, Sultana Raza’s poems have appeared in numerous journals, including Columbia Journal, The New Verse News, London Grip, Classical Poetry Society, spillwords, Poetry24, Dissident Voice, and The Peacock Journal. Her fiction has received an Honorable Mention in Glimmer Train Review, and has been published in Setu, Coldnoon Journal, Szirine, aperture, Entropy, and ensemble (in French). She has read her fiction/poems in India, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, England, Ireland, the US, and at CoNZealand.

https://www.facebook.com/sultana.raza.7
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIYp4lvMGcTKI4xWtIdQpbw

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We’re looking for more speculative poetry to feature in future months.

Read our submission criteria here.

We also have an open call for drabbles! All the details here.

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Featured Photo by Joel Filipe on Unsplash