Presence of Absence Art Show
mystery that is mind
poems from the poetry chain
1
Wants no advice
On what it should think.
Some stupid thoughts
Some serious ones
That can make the usual life
Flow off course
Trying to meet the unusual.
Among leaves it searches for
Hidden mangoes ripe
Moonstones it tries to find
Amidst ordinary pebbles.
Then
Mind makes a great discovery
And gets itself a prize- satisfaction.
2
Want not the green calf length pants
I had seen online at Libas
Nor do I want the ethnic print top
Among the displays in Fabindia shop.
My Christmas shopping list is short
Simple things but not the easily available sort
I seek some Christmas decoration
To hang on my tree before vacation
No twinkling stars and lights
No glittering streamers or bells
Only smilies round and thin
That will remind me to smile and grin!
3
Climate change will nearly kill us
But not before we humans kill each other
We cut down trees big and small
Mercilessly wiped off many species
Some bird songs will never again be heard
Colours of some pretty flowers GenZ will never see
Water becomes too costly a drink
Lucky ones get tokens at the oxygen kiosk
Man looks helpless at nature’s fury
No answers ; yet plans to save the last bee
But he has scores to settle and wars to wage
Bombs to shower, blood to spill for strange reasons
Like religion , ideologies and nonsense customs.
Burning a city is not great when the whole earth smoulders.
4
Memories cut deep wounds
In a heart longing to belong
Several years seeking emancipation
From the next second of uncertainty
Poetry waiting at the tip of my pen
To be with me, to give me gentle stroking
On my forehead, until I pour out my thoughts
With all my happiness and gloom sometimes.
Glittering bright, yet they are! straight from my heart!
Most of them spill on hard rocks
Instantly shattering into fine golden dust
I collect it in the cup of my palms
To store them safe in my dreams
And share with the world someday.
The Eternal Mahatma
The Eternal Mahatma (Gandhian Philosophy)
published in Setu bilingual magazine in november 2023
The world seeks a fine thread
to string together, the diverse beads.
A unique story is there to lead
for his nation’s freedom it did plead.
Keeping his strategies to become a model
unprecedented, unheard of, a bloodless battle.
Qualities to lead- honesty, willpower and punctuality;
amidst them stood tall ‘AHIMSA’ against all brutality.
When the pain of the common man is alleviated,
and his young child’s hunger banished,
Gandhi’s vision for his motherland is realised,
that for ordinary men and women; fulfilled.
A life by itself a message for all times
across the globe and across all climes.
His voice is for the oppressed,
he stood for the deprived and the discriminated.
He liberated the people from an empire; with no weapons
The Mahatma’s life amazes, around the world, millions
Mithramaya and me
PINK PETALS
Pink petals
Water hesitates to come in
fears the merciless sun will
soon turn her into vapour.
Breeze too busy to pause
spend some time here whirling
the island has little news to share.
Pain filled the pink bright flower
the lonely blossom on the lonely island.
Shrubs invited no birds or bees
Thorns kept off the singing cicadas.
Butterflies painted themselves in other skies
The pink flower left unknown.
The lonely island longed for a footfall,
flapping of wings and scurry of paws.
Ripples touched the shores gently
moved back unsure, quickly.
Moonlight caressed the water bright
rocked it back and forth to sleep tight.
The lonely island cold, slept blanketed
in its own shadow dark, like a heart-
unwilling to trust, unable to feel.
Thunder clapped, lightning drew bright lines
across the sky that could no longer withhold
the agony of witnessing every day,
the loneliness of the flower, the pink flower.
Water gushed along,
pouring rain incessant resolute.
floating the pink petals to distant shores
a poem etched on each petal, deep;
in the language of the lonely mind
of the wild flower, the pink flower
waves read them again with pleasure
water drops wrapped themselves in the verses
with pride.
Nominated for Pushcart prize 2023
SILENT DESTRUCTION
Spreading through the soil
they wait for that moment.
Now is that time!
To engage in selfless toil.
Creeping in one by one
into the monumental structure
it is now their dinner!
Nobody saw them get in
No one had watched their work booming
Nobody had any idea of their plans.
Web of disease engulfing body and mind
Guardians turning fickle leaving a culture eroded.
Wrongs not undone but stay to be the new rights.
Alarms not raised nor questions asked
as the edifice transforms into an anthill.
Can the aching heart anymore expect a revival?
Termites swarm on the remains
of pillars that had long held high
the wonders of wisdom and passion
once the world’s treasure chest
now stolen by trustees of era next.
LOVE anthology
Farewell
Return to my shade
Oh my dear!
Quiet lies beneath it
Move away not!
Spend some more time
with me
This afternoon it is sweltering hot.
Road ahead is rough
Path you traversed was tough
Wait under my canopy green
A flowing river away can be seen
A swing on the branch
for the boy will be great!
He can have fun
and get home before it is late
I will not for long
stand here
As the mall comes
in the square near
Freedom
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Probably the sky will be of
a different colour,
the air lighter, not smelling corpses
the water clear, not tasting blood
the grass green still, not burnt brown.
Food served after prayers
If those not silenced by explosions.
Cold nights under dark clouds
hiding stars
splashing waves clearing the boats
salty water showing the way to freedom.
Freedom in a world free of fear.
No one loses her dreams to someone’s choice
life would have a reason to live.
Heart never would beat faster than you run –
away from the sharp axes that follow
to chop tender wings and get away with
the grains collected when the sun was shining bright.