Dark and Light

Walking beside the silver brook
Beneath a swaying green canopy
Over the soft bed of bluebells
Pillowed with golden sun followers

Snowfall of pheromones
Chocolat and copper kiss
Spunky webs and unseen tears
Scaly heart seeking anchor

Of two-fanged curses
And clawy reach of fate
Dark lofts and attic corners
Scavenging humanity’s filth
In the indifferent darkness

Times past and journeyed
Times awaited in hope’s abyss
Life-string as a puppet
Of desire and ambition

Of forbidden loves
And over-cooked angst
Like crumbling waffles

A tear drop of gratitude
A tear drop of regret
Choices made and abandoned
Of alluring and thoughtful roads…

The enticing quiet breeze lures
I slumber deep in the unbenown

Voiceless Wail

She slithers down the broken asphalt
Blood pooling in its dips and cracks
Tattoos of scratched broken skin
Speaking of lost eyeballs

Reeking air; putrid and green
Speckled with fungi clouds
Telling marks of decayed cult
Of blanched life and sold souls

Of fanged mouths and dead eyes
Limbless walkers and tongueless jabbers
Misguided into evolution’s purgatory

Renaissance painting
On bleached white walls
Of round fledgling worlds
Ectasy and tears and quests
Pulsing enthralling vibrancy
Alchemy - potent and intoxicating

Broken down into thousand pieces of glass
To a final rabid casket of convulsing breaths

Bruises, Skin Deep

The top spins furiously
The wheel churns mercilessly
Time slides past ruthlessly

Teenage dreams unfurl
New horizons tempt

Fresh floral scent wafts across
The night-queen blooms in the dark

Gentle star-light
A warming blush
Kindling spark
Ratcheting heartbeats

Enticement by an idea
Hidden lure of suggestion

Of lonely wanderers
In an empty landscape
Self-lessons in soul value

Priceless

Fathomless...

Overflow

I think of you...
When dusk spills red
When the birds fly south
When the poinsettia blooms
When the stars streak the sky
When the moon smiles its half smile

I think of you...
When cloud wisps linger away
When wolves howl under dark skies
When black night blankets tired souls
When the creaking land sighs with relief
When the clock strikes the witching hour

I think of you...
In the passage of filled hours
In the gathering heartbeats of day
In the miasma of remembered caresses
In the supposed heat of meeting epidermis

I think of you...
My thoughts overflow
My fingers trail away
My heart accelerates on

Thoughts are all I have for company
Till I hold you within my passion wrap

Why Me?

Red and deep wound
On the raw psyche

Each scrape of spirit
A body blow to soul

I can withstand pain enormous
I can survive belied expectations
I can live through broken promises
I can live out dispirited times

But these are the worst of times
And I seek comfort in empathy

I want to understand
Why me?

I do not seek to supplant
I do not seek to unruffle
I do not seek to replace
I do not seek to impose
I do not seek to thwart
I do not seek to inflict
I do not seek ignorance
I do not seek to destroy

I want to prosper
I want to learn
I want to work
I want to create
I want to plant
I want to offer jobs
I want equal rights
I want freedom for my people
I want to move fearlessly

I want understanding
I do not seek to belittle you
I only seek to enlighten myself

Then why me?

I harbour all
I may not secure all
But I do my best

I do not mind your colour
Or the length of your hair
Or the growth of your beard

I care for the smile
At the end of a hard day

I care for the contented look
At the end of reflection

I care for the proud look
You bestow upon your child

I seek to care for your heart
I seek to care for your future

For they make me
For they define me
For they will be my legacy
For you will be my history

This land, this people -
The aspirations and dreams
A land of thousand mutinies
A land of hundred living dreams

Cyclonic musings

The speck of dirt on a spic saxophone
First autumnal leaf in the garden
Sour grape in a vintage vineyard year
Sightless in the gaggle of speech-less

Clauses

For, those with veiled eyes -
Will count the thorns on a rose
Will see the half-empty glass
And dunes, not the oasis beyond
Will see malice in kindness
And threats in helping hands

For, those with Is -
Are like horse eyes
Fail to see the other side
Are like the sun at night
Fail to see the other view

For, those with egos -
Will be blind to brutal honesty
And see only the sunnier side
Will consider wake up calls
As betrayal in friendly arms

For those who forget -
Ambitions are pickled from sweet mistakes
Superficial friends are not for rainy weekends

whirl

For the world spins on
Reaching out for the shiny moon
With every gory sun that rises

Oblivious axis
Off louder tinny murmur
Clothed in satiny waves

Hope leaks
Trust clots

Make time for humane optimism
Amidst petering futures

Have I Told You...

Have I told you
How a lick of snow tastes

Have I told you
About desirable lonesome oceans

Have I told you
About the adrenaline rush of skydiving

Have I told you
About stargazing in the tropics

Have I told you
Of the wonders of a forest inhabited

Have I told you
Of karaoke freedom in a Japanese bar

Have I told you
How freshly brewed wine tastes

Have I told you
Of discovering in deep veined mines

Have I told you
Of the aroma of freshly baked Amish bread

Have I told you
Of giggles that come with rice and chopsticks

Have I told you
Of the gorgeous Belgian bikeways

Or the sheer sensuousness
Of cruising in Kerala backwaters
Of watching a glorious tiger stalk
Of a ride on a majestic elephant
Of powerful sinews in a serene Masai
Of the blue-eyed Muscovite children
Of romantic nights in Parisian byways
Of colourful nostalgic markets in Morocco
Of beautiful women and bronzed men of the Nile
Of awe at Neimeyer's brilliance in Brasilia

Of a world resembling the leaves of a new book
Mysteries to discover; Mazes to decode
New lands to be explored
New people to be befriended

The exoticism of life
And the elixir of joy

Multiplied when absorbed and embraced
In the cocooning warmth of your love

Sequencing

Of mornings filled with daydreams
Of nights of living in self-stories
Of lazy afternoons spent making wishes

Of shaking fists and tearful wrath
Of cussing Gods for abandonment
Of experimenting with the dark side

Of rueful confessions
Of misguided adventures
Of learnt lessons in humility
And dependence in freedom

Of walking a mile in heating sun
Of learning about Keynes and worms
Of tolerant theories of freedom and
Of prancing Minerva’s owl in daylight
Of logic and philosophy and psychology
Of the eternal grammar of politics
And the timeless origins of economy

Of seeking loves and purposes
Of finding both in unseen nooks

Of words and punctuations
Of integrity of thought
And clarity of reflection

Of satisfaction and hope
Of freedom in hearty bindings

Hair cut

Sloshed black tendrils
As floats on curvy blue
Felt up with chemical caresses
To emerge wiry and spiky
A pixie from a fresh sea dip
Covered in blue canvas

Gales of hot air
Chemicals on fire
Curling waves
And silken weaves

Pocket artillery
Snapping steel jaws
Sharp nips of angles
Unedified cuts
Chopped waves
Invisible blood

Yellow

Red orange flames dance on
Behind a fall curtain of ice

Shy sprinkled bits
Detonation by callousness

Dancing dragonflies
On corpses of fluttering joy
Splayed rotten skin casks
Dried stars of crimson veins

Cold hand of distance
Fostering, festering

Strayed

Faceless
Nameless
In the grey alley
Behind crusty facades
Wet with twilight rain

Where They reign;
A spattering of feverish lurkers

Escape
or
Exile

That red -
A blood trail
or
Temple ashes

In my mind or
On the street

Subverted truth
Decorated truth
Plain white lies
In self service

Mind's release of endorphins
Quenching conjuring lips

Flu of Indifference

A crispy morning
The air is stale
A rejuvenating bath
Water's stagnant taste
A delicious breakfast
Tasteless texture of food

Unstoppable thoughts
Expressionless freedom

Exciting times all-around
No sight of freedom
Of rights and expression
Of thoughts and reforms

No world for sane men to inhabit
None at all for women and babies
No space for thinkers of change

Time for no sane Gods
And insane religiosity
With just Mammon
And the dogs of war
At the altar of worship

We live; we pass the days
We inhabit this time
- Our only inheritance

What will be our legacy?
…Chaos and jellyspine?

We dread the futures
But too timid to step
Forward in time, in thoughts

Such spit and wildfires
Rattling deep-rooted foundations
And hard-built civilisations

The seeker wallows in cold depths
Craving for clarity of thought & action
Seminally afraid of uncomfortable truths

Where's the Third Eye?

Ifs

Roads uneven, unwalked
Words unspoke, unthought
Smiles unfast, untimely
Glances unmet, unheld

Losses unlost unknown.

Dot

Off my rocker
In the imagery of shackles
How absurd
The venom of innocence

Tight fists
Clenched lips
Clipped tones

A litany of damns
Anger at the cosmos
At blurry lines of destiny
That rule so mercilessly

Karmic punishment
For riles of a life past

The dues are paid
Unwrinkle my brow
No more ransom
With each exhaled breath

Damn precognition
Hold of invisible threads

The waiting dots, darkens my soul
Countdown to a wretched deliverance

Is What?

Ricochets
or
Repellants

Empathy
or
Mimicry

Virtual Pats
or
Behind-the-back sniggers

Approval
or
Advantage

Complimentary
or
Exploitation

Self-satisfaction
or
Air-brushed ego

Such are the ways of the world
Coded language of self-survival

No place for the naive
And the easily swayed

Ostriches, all
With heads deep
In the sand of illusions

30 Years

A comma in the straight line
A semi-colon before going on

One more waiting room
In yet another waystation

Cheap soapsuds for my weary back
Bitter coffee for tired tastebuds
A couldnt-care-less uneven bed

Long breath of reflection
Of gratitudes & regrets
Of scars collected enroute
Of soothing hushes in ears

To ruminate and reflect; only
For an exhaled breath of time

I will linger on the flowers
See blessings in the petals
Troubles will be flicked off
Like lint off my worn jacket

The journey wears me down
The path entices and mocks

Pick up the bags and pick-me-up
Duty calls - a life to be lived

Coiled

Vice clench of uncertainty
Late bite of the tongue
Constant flickering air
Underneath the windpipe

Thought-clouds in the head
Disturbia behind wakeful eyes
Ghost pain on nerve points

Crash of external vibes
Against dense hide of survival

Twitching feet
Tapping fingers
Shifty eyes
Licking lips

Invisible flinches
Mementos gathered over time

Tracks

Green, wet and golden Chertala
Red warmth in deep Barbil mines
Dussera fun in heating Rourkela

Of missed buses in Bhubaneshwar
And unravelling vulnerability
New promises in sweaty Cuttack
Revered sanctuary of Ravenshaw
Gifting new lives and forever friends

Push and pull - a new perspective
Anchors laid down - visions clear

Onwards to challenging Dhenkanal
Afternoon mirages in Raipur
And cricket live in Nagpur
Sought and found in Bhopal

New chapters - Evernew questions
Precious life lessons learnt

Uproot to root in Bangalore
Both, pitstop and temple
In pursuit of happyness
Siren call of love and want
Answered, watered and fostered

Tales of lands traversed; never seen
Straight lines of dusty train rides
Voyages of languages and worlds

Forever seeking
Finally living...