poem: Jai Chakrabarti

The Black Man, the Indian, and the Jew
Discussing Whose Name is Least Marketable
A Pantoum

They are plundering the question of whether a Sand-Nigga is better than—
Not the darkest color of molasses, the Indian drinks another Brooklyn lager.
He toasts to freedom of speech and tattoos on another man’s skin.
The Jew refuses to be called white, evinces childhood in bomb shelters.

Not the darkest color of molasses, the Indian drinks another Brooklyn lager.
Who raises the word African-American, then accuses the black man of dating white?
The Jew refuses to be called white, evinces childhood in bomb shelters.
He claims suffering is a barreled equation, cumulative, utilitarian, and equal.

Who raises the word African-American, then accuses the black man of dating white?
The black man thumbs a list of resumes to dismiss names explicitly ethnic.
He claims suffering is a barreled equation, cumulative, utilitarian, and equal.
He stops to count syllables, umlauts, hyphens, dissects accents to root.

The black man thumbs a list of resumes to dismiss names explicitly ethnic.
Mohammed, Ehud, Malcolm Al Haq, Jesus, Begum, Krishna, Suheir.
He stops to count syllables, umlauts, hyphens, dissects accents to root.
The Indian says his darkest God is colored blue, feet washed in soap and lye.

Mohammed, Ehud, Malcolm Al Haq, Jesus, Begum, Krishna, Suheir.
The black man carves a mask of soot and pitch and wears it like new shoes.
The Indian says his darkest God is colored blue, feet washed in soap and lye.
The Jew rails Aliyah—for home—his golden handcuff in his hands.

The black man carves a mask of soot and pitch and wears it like new shoes.
He toasts to freedom of speech and tattoos on another man’s skin.
The Jew rails Aliyah—for home—his golden handcuff in his hands.
They are plundering the question of whether a Sand-Nigga is better than—

JAI CHAKRABARTI writes poetry, fiction, and algorithms. Born in Kolkata, India, and now living in Brooklyn, NY, his work interrogates the experience of South Asian diasporas, settles occasionally on the beauty of mathematics, drifts in magical realism, and always aims to escape classification. Jai’s U.S. publications include work in Barrow Street, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Parse, Rattapallax, Spindle, Symposium, and The Statesman and Festival in India. He has been a featured reader at SUNY Buffalo, The Indian Institute for Advanced Study, Nuyorican Poet’s Café, The Bowery Poetry Club, and LouderArts at Bar 13.