Littérature

7 poems penned on 7-7-07... (No, i do not intend any metaphor!)

I hardly kno hw to give an intro to dis page of poetry on very assorted topics. I can only remind d readers tat d beauty of al poetry lies in d variety of thoughts t triggers, n the success of d words in capturing d abstract ideas of d poet. Honestly, I don believe in d kinda poetry tat rhymes or tat conforms to rigid standards in a sorta military manner. Poetry must b free xpression of thought, n d function of a poet s not tat of an addin machine tat counts syllables. As to d function of d reader, t s to view d piece in an unprejudiced manner n to enjoy t as he likes. N t s for this reason tat I don wanna publish my own interpretations of my somewhat vague poems.
Well, enuf of prefaces… now for d poems…

OF COBWEBS AND COCOONS

As I walk in this mosaic of colors
catching the abstract, time and again,
and packing it into letters, words, numbers and equations;
Like a spider, weaving the abstract into beautiful webs
However beautiful, they are cobwebs, you see!
I wonder why I don’t pack it all up
(The more I find, the more there is)
So that life unravels
new dimensions each day
Makes me feel I am entangled in life’s master cocoon
But lo and behold,I emerge a wise butterfly!

WATER

A volcano erupts from the Earth’s umbrella,
droplets of fire glistening towards the ground
Hundreds of flaming altars springing from the river of tar
and the smoke arises to the echo of thundering mantras
splashing a supernova offering…
As their solar-eyed protector still wavers among the waves,
selecting a form that would displease no one;
The sparks of her furnace ooze, poisoning villages
and the cries and moans cloud their burnt bruises…
Fiery images of unhealed pain flash across my dampened mind
I float in a pot of boiling guilt-
‘Why the inequalities? Why the evil?’
The thunder silences me again…
I only smile, silenced by my one-year-old’s “w-a-tuh”!!

SOLITUDE

As thin needles of water fall from the sky
As if to sew my tearsInto a garment of grief
I look around to see
If there is just one person to understand my grief
Not pity, not offer empty words of consolation
But understandAnd hold my hand
Giving me reassurance, comfort, solace
The heartbreak of the sky seems melancholic
Yet not so much out of sorrow
As the inability to share it
And I think, it is not hard to bear a heartbreak
But it is hard to bear it alone…

EFFLORESCE

It was a tiny lavender blossom
Insignificant among the creme-de-la-creme of floral beauties
Innocently finding its unpopularity, difficult to comprehend;
It longed not to be the cynosure of eyes that passed by
But it wondered why nobody was quixotic enough to like it
When all the buds of the same plant were looked at in awe;
It waited and waited for the soft touch of fingers
The awaited day dawned in glory,
A group of maidens with a penchant for blooms
Crowded the plant like butterflies
Plucked and trampled, admired and shunned-
All but one sylph with a genial, radiant smile, angelic!
She took the flower in her hand, took it to her lips,
Quiver! Pink labial touch!
But while it was still floatin in the heavens-
her soft palms,She left it in the foliage of a bush,
“You look better there, in your home”
Alas! I had better been an atrophy!

MOMENTS

As I observe life, I, a detached onlooker,
try to catch myself at the not-so-crucial crossroads
discovering those moments that make life
a worthy opponent, a delightful journey!

Moments that leap out, like commas in a sentence!
While flipping through the pages of a book
waiting for the host,
While nodding to a piece of symphony
with notes that strangle your shy thoughts out,
While looking at the darkening sky
that leaves bright orange traces on your window,
While waking in the early hours of dawn,
silent and uninhabited!

Moments that grip you
clutching your naked soul in all its loneliness,
Moments that hug you in a fatal embrace of joy
choking you with all of life’s happiness,
Moments that catch you unawares
when your unbridled mind is about to leap from one thought to another!

Not the ostentatious instants of triumph
or total despair,
Not instants of fiery inspiration
lascivious passion or exuberant ecstasy,
Not instants of pomp and fame and rush and people,
the so-called full stops of life,
Not the coquettish instants of emotion
that leave you no time to feel,
But calm, silent lonely moments,
too many to list,
too beautiful to describe!

Moments that leap out, like commas in a sentence!
For words murder the thoughts
that arise in solitary peace,
Their corpses lying in solace, buried in the commas!

EMPTY

As I am absorbed, minute by minute, into this vacuum,
I vanish into nowhere:
Nowhere, the land of emptiness, that is filled by me!
I create the space as I move along
Filling it with bright cheer
But as I move, the vacuum drinks it all!
It shreds my joy like fabric-glimmer
And captures it like mosquito-nets do the sunlight;
Then I comprehend the infinity of this vacuum
That cannot spread its emptiness, or radiate darkness
Or radiate its freezing cold
Yes, I comprehend the sad, sad infinity of this vacuum

SANDSTORM

Unable to tell you when I became the wind,
And you the sand-dune
I always wanted it to last forever,
Then the togetherness, now the separation;
But being the wind, one must realize
Nothing flies with you too long
They go sooner, the closer they came along,
May be my life shall never have a love song
All those memories get muddled in my head,
Like sand in a slush, not leaves in a storm!
It is difficult to tell you I’m leaving you behind
And difficult to watch you trying to find
Why it isn’t the same as before
I love you, but not anymore!!

P.S. Some of des ve been publishd in oder websites of Indian poets under d same titles!