IN MY HIDDEN MAP

Two soft roads break by the brook I still know,

As a child I’d wonder as to where they’d go;

Stories of the place, about the lines that went,

I could feel even now, their sound and their scent.

Not a public place but I’d call it tavern,

I could hear it speak to me, although taciturn;

I’d imagine anything, pain was also fun,

Flirt with the moon, gold-dig with the sun.

The twin roads are full of flowers,

With precious jewels, rivulets;

Unheard birds and fruits,

Trees breezing leaves, hanging nests.

Every bit of the joint is vivid and clear,

It’s hidden in the map of my mind;

I came running in my form to see it from near,

Outside of me, I could never ever find.


Poem selected for Triveni

Universe understands

Universe

doesn’t understand your verse

kind or unkind,

complicated, meaningful

sublime words.

It understands feelings in those letters lifeless

affectionate, pure, blissful thoughts

chanting inside in the random words

to laugh from within first, then on the page

hug, embrace in the mind then take the pledge;

when words marry the thoughts

the vibration thus born corresponds,

all scribbling on the leaves

with feelings exactly the same

texts that are formed, prose or poem

universe understands,

responds to all of them.

Voicing a dalit*

Get out of here you idiot

Before you think yourself as poet.

You need a whacking praise you duffer

an egotist terrorist, a bluffer

pretence is greasing out of your face

good words hide your jealousy and gracelessness

some letters here and there cleverly put

doesn’t make a poem you intellectual brute.

you suck licking on your words and your lines

You pelt your judgement stone at others

from your glasshouse you traitor

A delinquent gatecrasher, a rascal you are

​​​​​​​I know your vice!!!!

Just get out of here you brainy prophet

Before you dare to call yourself a poet.

Dalit* (in the traditional Indian caste system) a member of the lowest caste. wikipedia

The unstoppable

Google images

Child

serving tea at the beach
takes the empty cups
from visitors, tourists.

Then
an angelic smile
diviner than divine
runs behind a spider
there, there, there
ouf…noh…it goes into its hole.
the child smiles
a very wise one now
knows it can never catch
but unrestrained fun is being on the run,
thinks of home, the village
from where, the little worker was brought
as a visitor, then, maybe bought
preordained folklore
unpreventable onslaught.

Like a fragile foggy web
for a split second
faces flash, aunt, pa, bro,
kittens, birds, pups all hungry
for food, water and perhaps milk
she touches her teats
disobediently blooming
hee hee she smiles
suddenly she sees the stony eyeballs
of her mom, livid and concerned
she hides them
from eyes, eyes, eyes
looks at the holes, stops.

One spider pops
oops, goes back again
to its sandy inland,
the child, to the shop
washes the cups
to serve afresh
and smile on the way
playing again
with spiders.

Thoughts

Google images

Thoughts

You say you are kind

I see you don’t see you’re blind

a quiet mask clouds your redoubled world

you hide in beautiful words

of budhha, christ and what not

but you are tied in the lexical knot

accept first you are also cruel

you are unkind, can be hurtful as hell

make kindness your fuel

not to extinguish

in the words you cleverly use

or finish in the work you do

but in the thoughts you think

your pure mind for sure in the eyes will blink

you will see the humbling affectionate light

unending supply in the body, suddenly light

relax, you may not have to say anything

rest at ease, do nothing

but kindness will show,

you don’t have to preach, underline, highlight

A friend in need

Google images

Dark moist night thunders

Lady returns home alone

Lightening befriends her

Losing sight

Google images

Losing sight

Whispering winds

Pushing me away

Winsome webs
Through window gates

Trespassers

In the bedroom

Without a ringing bell

Face glows at night

In the light of your cell

Wailing waves

Brushing me aside

Calendar hangs on the wall

Reminding me of dates

D-days

Blind space
Brown memories

Losing sight
Wandering words

It's amazing how many out there are changing/losing/choosing partners because of easy and attractive options in the net. Here's a take to keep the changing phenomenon affecting conjugal lives on record.

mind yearns

Google images

mind yearns

mountains and meadows

pleasing landscapes

shepherds with lambs and cows

waves, clouds

starry night, clear sky

dreamy dawns

images

desktop reality

mind yearns

to bring them out

for a moment they bloom

I close my eyes

horrified on the earth

pollution, poverty, panic

they are strangers

don't belong here anymore

return, freeze again

comfortable stable

with their virtual existence

I fix my eyes on them

images reflect

in every part of the globe

in every household

reside as implicit objects

mind yearns

You do have a beautiful mind. If you don't believe, go right now and take a look at the image you have for your desktop. 

Puppets

Puppets around me

rest inside, as words

heavy, call me names

I brood I blame

I throw them away

cannot forget,

they come back again

stand on my way

pretending to empower

without them I cower

their company I regret

I become their puppet.

One fine day,

a puppet goes away

I look at the mirror

there’s no trace of horror!

I bring all the rest,

one by one

very slowly I set them free

under my own behest

release with kindness, from me

they are done

feeling new, I know I have won.

Addiction of power has left

I meet those dolls again, from time to time

I'm not threatened with puppet words

I have cleaned my clouded

discolored intellect

marionettes dancing light,

right in front of me

with their soul and their mind,

words coalesce, sing and rhyme.

circus

Some take grasses, some drugs

some drink and smoke

some rage holy wars

kill, slaughter, butcher and choke

some desert their families

some earn blind fortunes

others knock at places of worship

taming monkeys beyond our wits.

If only we stay where we are

we could see without going far

the high we need is much within

the circus will end, the show will begin

the light that's closest in the way

will cease to be light-years away.