Amitabh Vikram Dwivedi is assistant professor of linguistics at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, India. His research interests include language documentation, writing descriptive grammars, and the preservation of rare and endangered languages in South Asia. His most recent books are A Grammar of Hadoti (Lincom: Munich, 2012), A Grammar of Bhadarwahi (Lincom: Munich, 2013), and a poetry collection titled Chinaar kaa Sukhaa Pattaa (2015) in Hindi. As a poet, he has published more than 100 poems in different anthologies, journals and magazines worldwide.

CCTV

It is not a recording,

But an indelible mark on my memory,

Of a triple-X movie of

Vice and venery

Which is stored in my mind, and may

Start anytime between two gates;

There is no control.

Do not know when I will become naked

In front of myself.

My soul may insult me anytime,

There is no guarantee.

For that reason I give bribe to all three:

Soul, mind, and tongue-

So that no one will reveal my secret.