I am watercolor.

neither here

2006-10-03T21:32:00.000+05:00

it is my lot to live in between colours, words, cities, continents. no story is my own for i live between those of others. i can claim no mountains nor any sea. i belong to no one, no one belongs to me.

the end

2006-10-03T21:29:00.000+05:00

it happened suddenly
and all the endings were washed away
each book, each story, each song ended
as questions i could not interpret, nor answer
this is a new madness
that of the living

angels

2006-10-03T21:21:00.000+05:00

we are angels, you and i
and thus may never dream
no past or future for us
near perfect beings.
no tears nor giddy laughter
no hunger nor any hate
do you ever wish you knew
what sadness was
so you could paint it on your face?

listen, its singing

2006-10-03T21:05:00.000+05:00

some see the beauty in the desert, are ensnared by the song of the shifting sand. for them the desolation holds a wild peace in its palm, and the parched land echoes of a primeval calm. but the song that is sung by the wet earth at night will never have a rival for me. it sings of plenty with a wanton tune, of abundance and riches in dark emerald hues. the purity of the desert may have its charm for some, but the jungle shall cradle my bones tonight.

transit lounge

2006-10-03T20:57:00.000+05:00

there are a few places where we're all just the same. airports for one, morgues too I suppose; most places of transit, when you've left behind who you were and have yet to arrive at being anyone else.

bloody women

2006-10-03T20:48:00.000+05:00

celebrate the ones that did not
die buried alive but lingered on
the ones who used their blood
for ink and others that bled
without uttering a word, cheer
for the ones who lay drenched in red
amongst the remains of dead flowers
and don't forget those that live by proxy
nooses around their neck
attached to ever hungry young bellies
crying their old tears

waiting for rain

2006-10-03T20:41:00.000+05:00

it's hard to explain
a yearning for rain
but there a few who understand.
those who have cried away all their tears
and can see their futures dry,
faces brittle and hearts parched and cracking.
their eyes still shimmer from time to time,
the haze will clear if you look a little closer.
these are those with deserted souls,
praying for the rain
that never came
to settle the dust.

forgotten onions

2006-10-03T20:38:00.000+05:00

love deferred
lives in the dark secretly
sprouting roots and shoots
it tastes of earth and carries on

still

2006-09-29T15:33:00.000+05:00

still the water
don't breathe, hold back
the breeze from stroking the surface.
still the water
don't let your heart beat
or a sound disturb the silent trees
lest a leaf fall and obscure it all.
lock away the children and hold
all your calls. to the world say
stop and still the water

--------------------------------

stillness is stone, cold
comfort for the soles
as you climb through the night
breeze, up past the moon's full
breast nursing peace
stillness is stone, old
grooves cup your feet
on their ascent towards the lights
of candle-like stars dancing and teasing
like the hem of your skirt
stillness is stone, carvings
in caves emanating in waves
the womb's call to pray

lemmings

2006-09-29T15:29:00.000+05:00

at least they know
are sure and secure
of the path to take
the goal to run towards
hurtling like stars
into the arms of infinity
while we amble along
dying accidentally
while crossing the road

another's

2006-09-27T10:00:00.000+05:00

whose sin was it
that bore you
into these alabaster arms?
when you bloom
will you shame them
with the scent of it?
or even worse
turn around one day
and see yourself
shame them all
with the truth of it?

heaven sent

2006-02-25T00:44:00.000+05:00

i found god
and then religion came
to carry her away
i found god
silver and slippery
and they cast their nets
about me saying
it was their catch of the day

----------------------------

lay low those halos
and let angels speak
with human tongues
do away with arabic,
hebrew, aramaic and such
let them stub their toes
and cry 'bollocky bollocks!'

transfixed

2006-02-25T00:42:00.000+05:00

sleeping in the afternoon
gives me nightmares
of smouldering embers that turn
to raging flames while still i lie
amidst their hell
unable to move

endless night

2006-02-25T00:38:00.000+05:00

i stumbled away from her so weary
knowing this birth was mischance clearly
a liason of old shadows nearly
bore me straight to sin

blood caked my arms, my breasts, my face
yet i could not halt the frantic pace
heading south from the evil place
that place where it begins

but how far, how fast can a newborn go
leaving tiny tracks in emerald snow
from birth to death the path is slow
mere existence is my sin

shh...

2006-01-27T11:59:00.000+05:00

i'm waiting
hiding in the jungle
waiting to see
who'll come for me
waiting to be fished out
cleaned off
and told i belong on concrete.
the jungle is as quiet
as a jungle can be
perhaps no one is coming.

limbo

2006-01-27T11:57:00.000+05:00

how stubborn are we
castaways of cultures
climbing over the walls
only to peep through the cracks

transient trysts

2006-01-27T11:54:00.000+05:00

this is the tourist variety love
the buy-one-get-one-free kind of love
just passing through madam? why not
rest yourself here with me kind of love
try a taste of the local culture love
if you like what you get leave a nice tip
- that kind of love

remedies

2005-12-29T00:48:00.000+05:00

the horror, the horror
murmur the girls at the parlour
this layer of the working man's
tan marking the climb
(the wrong way) down
and hushed whispers discuss
whether to bleach it off or not
perhaps a traditional rubbing off of
while friends and family debate
whether a suitable boy would make
it alright, make it all white again

family resemblance

2005-12-29T00:47:00.000+05:00

daughter you have stolen
my face and i cannot bear
to see how you wear it
askew as if it were true
that it now belongs to you
to do with as you please

a chance of rain

2005-12-29T00:42:00.000+05:00

a hush fell

oppressive

like unfallen rain

then a voice

heavy and humid

spoke to the waiting

brace yourselves
for here it comes!

slicing through
sharp and cool

clarity accompanied

by the

d
r
u
m
m
i
n
g

of patient

condensation

whose time has come.

touch

2005-12-29T00:38:00.000+05:00

your fingers
flutter
and come to
rest
like lazy Sunday
afternoons
in mute response
to mine
tracing
the outline
of your bare
back

mother, not wife

2005-12-29T00:37:00.000+05:00

i thought of telling you what the children did today
but you no longer want to know and it isn’t my place
to say any more

woman

2005-12-29T00:32:00.000+05:00

i carry all that remains
of you with me
not just in my heart
but divided up neatly
in heart, handbag and uterus
a soul, a snapshot, a memory

write writer write

2005-12-19T00:30:00.000+05:00

maybe it's time to embrace
that other face; the one
with the solitary fate
to stop finding side streets
and shortcuts and head
for that winding way,
the destination that has remained
constant since the age of six
maybe its time to combine
life and a living, becoming
at last who i was meant to be
poet alone with her poetry

single

2005-12-19T00:26:00.000+05:00

because life happens
i won't wait around
for it to happen to me
i will walk out on my own
and just happen to be
a living and loving
version of me
i will sleep in my bed
diagonally
i will rise with the sun
and sip a truly girlie tea
cinnamon or camomile
i will go out and smile
at all that i see
and refuse to explain
when suddenly night falls
and i want to go home
to be alone and sleep
diagonally

only just

2005-12-19T00:24:00.000+05:00

i only want
the love of one man
so let it be
yours tonight
i only want
to hold your hand
to hold it forever
but just for tonight

discovery

2005-12-19T00:23:00.000+05:00

i went on holiday
and that’s where we met
me and who I could be
it was awkward at first
common ground was hard
to find and we had to turn
to talking about the weather
it was a sunny day
and it was raining
somewhere else

the same room

2005-12-19T00:21:00.000+05:00

tears fall from the ceiling
and the walls shudder and heave
at the memory of bearing
the weight of my sorrows
of holding me close as I died.
coming back now i can see
it has yet to forgive and forget
about me.

possession

2005-12-19T00:06:00.000+05:00

They’re crowding me out.
The picture frames from past lives.
The dusty books from college years
with philosophies I used to share.
All those clothes I used to wear.
These odds and ends that hold me down
and don’t take no for an answer.

past/present

2005-12-19T00:04:00.000+05:00

it already feels like an impossible dream
my very existence at this moment seems
to be fading slowly away into the pages
of a dust colored old photo album or magazine
of some sort, relegated to the back shelf
and eventually forgotten.

farewell for now

2005-12-19T00:02:00.000+05:00

why do I look at myself as if for the last time?
it is not as if I shall cease to exist after all
as the plane touches down on the runway
and kicks up the dry hot sand, nor is it likely
that my skin shall slip right off my bones
and lie in a crumpled heap on the dust
to be replaced by my patchwork suit
that coat of his desires and her dreams
of their perceptions and those crazy scenes
so why do I feel as if I need to say goodbye
to that slightly left of center me?

sweet

2005-12-19T00:01:00.000+05:00

hey angel face,
do you know
what’s even better
than a bowlful
of sugar cereal?
yes, indeed
that would be me
a lucky charm
tucked right into
my belly button.
stay in touch
it's been crazy
let’s get together
sometime later
and I’ll tell you all
about the weather
in the south

just browsing

2005-12-18T23:58:00.000+05:00

searching the eyes of strangers
i see a rainbow of me
replete with hopes and dreams
fears, limitations and wayward
curls flashing across windows
of brown, blue and green
like window shopping sometimes
i find exactly what i was looking for
a naked reflection in the glass

coming home

2005-12-08T08:25:00.000+05:00

some are born lost
and come to find
that home was just
not where they left it
but just a little way
to the right
and they know it
when they find it
for the earth rises there
to embrace her children

Thank you people of Galle!

departure

2005-12-06T12:52:00.000+05:00

i just want to lie still and bask in the glow
of the recentness of your absence
all these moments where
the walls still echo your words
my sheets lie exhausted and crumpled
and my heart still beats in time with yours

good advice

2005-12-06T12:48:00.000+05:00

i heard your voice today
as my feet were burning
on sand as hot and as coarse
as on the day you died.
and clear as the ocean
i heard you say-
"walk like a camel!"
and i couldn't help but laugh

listen

2005-11-24T09:02:00.000+05:00

in the middle of the jungle.
all alone at night.
i swear i can hear it.
jazz.

being

2005-11-24T08:56:00.000+05:00

i am beautiful again
because i no longer have to be
beautiful enough for you.
i know where i'm going now
because i no longer have to wait
for you to follow me.
i have found myself again
because i am no longer looking
for you to come find me.
i am my own.
beautiful.
sure.
found.

unclaimed

2005-11-24T08:03:00.000+05:00

the earth of this land sticks to me
as if i'll never be free of it.
my feet are ever sandy,
my skin always coated
with an indiscriminate layer;
a grimy mix of hot humid air
and dark, damp soil.
why did your pale dust
never lay claim to me like this?

lost

2005-11-20T10:17:00.000+05:00

you say we are lost
on islands apart
oceans of words
and worldly wisdom
between us
i say ride the silence
and let your whisper be
an empty page in a bottle
that crosses the sea

home is...

2005-11-20T09:53:00.000+05:00

never felt so alone
and so loved
marvelling at the silence
of a million souls shouting
welcome home traveller!

silver

2005-11-20T09:00:00.000+05:00

sometimes my body thinks it's a ghost
can pass through walls thicker than death
making you shiver when i come too close
stealing away that very last breath

wordlessly poetic

2005-11-10T10:45:00.000+05:00

burn

2005-11-08T09:08:00.000+05:00

how can you hope
to burn brighter than the flame
and then cast blame on those
that chose to refrain
from holding you closer?

flashback

2005-11-08T09:06:00.000+05:00

all it takes is a tiny tear
a rip
a cut
a dream
and the worst of what was
bears in like a flood
and wipes the new story clean

recognition

2005-11-08T08:55:00.000+05:00

soft black curls
cascade across
shoulders bare
knees kissing
feet dismissing
awkward shyness
in a downcast glance
mirror likeness
gazes back
never felt
so shy before

for marc

2005-11-07T11:21:00.000+05:00

the most romantic moment came

sitting on a bus
with someone i don't know

not speaking
not touching

my heart brimming over
with volumes of poetry

mirror, mirror

2005-11-07T11:11:00.000+05:00

look at me
my ashy knees
the cuts and scrapes
along my legs
the low lying slopes
of belly and breasts
the tangled mess
of manic hair
look hard
can you find me there?

hmm...

2005-11-07T11:09:00.000+05:00

sometimes
i feel the wind
will take me
up...
up...
up into the sky
till my feet
lose their memory
of land

the author

2005-08-24T14:20:00.000+05:00

i’m in such a mad rush to read your book that i can’t swallow
the words fast enough and i trip over myself falling
headlong into your pages stumbling
over words, reading, rereading, reveling
in the voyeuristic charm of your voice
as it tells tales of extraordinary love
etched on the faces of ordinary people
while I race towards the conclusion
and you.

a momentary lapse

2005-08-24T06:43:00.000+05:00

how could you have made me forget
the possibilities of a night-sky fading into dawn
the tug of kite string in the stiff morning breeze
the wonder of a touch-me-not furling in tight
the miracle of a morning through a child’s eyes

on the subject of me

2005-08-23T14:16:00.000+05:00

a friend from yesterday met you last night
and told you of me, how I used to be
a random collection of grasshoppers’ knees
and too much caffeine
you laughed politely and said, yes – isn’t she?

Change

2005-08-22T04:31:00.000+05:00

if you were ever to find me
once I have gone away
don’t turn around or hope
to recognize me for I
will not remain the same

first day in galle

2005-08-21T08:31:00.000+05:00

white cotton sheets
still cool in the morning sun
that comes slanting in the door
as tiny footsteps clamber
into my bed and tiny arms
embrace my sleepy self

____________________

i want to live in this town
which is kind to strays
and is also kind to me
and holds out its arms
to all those set adrift
from homelands across the sea

try me

2005-08-21T07:53:00.000+05:00

i want to put all the important bits,
the ones that make up me,
into a food processor, cuisinart,
or something of the sort,
mix, it and bottle it,
even label it perhaps,
and casually take to
carrying it on my hip
maybe one day you could try it
and then tell me what you think

late night radio

2005-08-21T07:24:00.000+05:00

a song my first love sang to me
plays on the radio as I grieve
the loss of you, my last
and I am moved by the universe
which has deemed me fit to love
more than just once in a lifetime

no words

2005-08-21T07:04:00.000+05:00

what to say to you – i have no words
to describe the sadness that had devoured me
to indicate the depths to which I fell
how to tell you, my love,
of how hard it has been being barefoot
in this valley of embers with its hills of flame

approach

2005-08-18T07:16:00.000+05:00

i saw you once but only from the right
it haunted me a while at nights
i needed just another view, the same
experience but felt anew
i will fly over hill and dale again
return from the land I call home
walk right by and you won’t even notice
that I have captured your other side

someday

2005-08-18T07:01:00.000+05:00

write me a letter, tell me the story
someday. down the road.
of why you felt it right
why you thought it proper
to wash away all that was
traces of me

pick up, move on

2005-08-16T04:40:00.000+05:00

I always knew I’d be the one
to hold the memory,
and so I set you free.
I’ll be the keeper
for this lot of sorrow
and that bit of despair
and you can continue on -
for only one is really required
for this task. I know
I’ll buckle under
the weight of that pain
– the heartache,
but you should rest
assured at night sweet love
that I’ll bear my load well.

__________________________________________

It’s time to pack up the scars
And pick up the shards
Of my red, red heart
It’s time to pack up old sins
Place them in old jam jars
And seal them tight in
And you know - it’s time to pack up your face
To give it time to erase
From a soul hard pressed
To letting you go.

prayer

2005-08-15T03:48:00.000+05:00

we sit on the shore
shoulder to shoulder
where palms come together
and bow low in homage.
absent, we sift the sand
thinking of distance
and the souls of the dead.
there is grit beneath my nails
silence and salt spray
burns your open wounds.

shadow play

2005-08-13T21:05:00.000+05:00

i took a great big knife
shiny and serrated
and sliced off my shadow
my feet from his
he's been unfaithful
and i have reason to believe
he flies from me at night
to rest by your side

being helen

2005-08-13T20:40:00.000+05:00

even little girls
in the pimply blush
of an awkward youth
and stately matrons
gliding like battleships
over ornate carpets
can be seized up
by a Trojan at any time
to be recast as Helen
beautiful forever
if but for a moment

shoelaces

2005-08-05T08:03:00.000+05:00

it’s 8 am and I haven’t slept
for thinking about shoelaces
and how sad I feel when I see yours untied
wearily tempting fate to trip you up again.

69 Pedlar Street

2005-08-05T01:41:00.000+05:00

let me show you
how you never grow old
i can hold back the ocean
and time too, if you need
let me be
the sanctuary for your soul
i can wake you in the mornings
with kisses and tea

31 July 2005

2005-07-31T02:16:00.000+05:00

blow out the candles
and pass me a slice
cut at least one for
each facet of your life
admire the layers
both bitter and sweet
revel in the textures
use both tongue and teeth
alternatively though
you could put it all away
start a new life
and live it your way

lick it

2005-06-14T02:05:00.000+05:00

Jazz.
So liquid.
Thick.
Like molasses.
Roll it on your tongue.
Taste.
Thick.
Sweet liquid.
Then,
Sharp.
And silky again.
Roll it on your tongue.
Taste that.
Jazz.

be there for me

2005-06-14T01:25:00.000+05:00

I made you exist.
I made you be there.
When I hear the screaming
I feel the pressure of your hand.
Comforting.
I made you my hero.
I made you be there.
When I lie alone I feel you kiss
the salt from my cheeks.
Loving.
I made you for my anger.
I made you for my pain.
I made you for my love.
You’ll never exist again.

that ain't good

2005-06-14T01:22:00.000+05:00

the sweet notes of nina
bless the sour notes of whisky
in this my dusky hour
they play on the strings
plucking out my pain
and dancing on the deathly
silence of this soul
that’s got it bad

tall tales

2005-06-14T01:13:00.000+05:00

For a very short while,
I knew my story.
Inside and out.
A tale taller than my being,
larger than my soul.
A spirit testing
the extent of my love
as I have always prayed
to be asked to prove. I was
a battleship in full sail,
heading into a storm..
But then they told me
I was to be shelved,
in a bottle made of glass,
in the fiction aisle.
And I lie broken,
waiting for you
to read my reality.

keep going

2005-06-13T22:09:00.000+05:00

let me live
in exaggerated motion
a flurry of movement
a fury of emotion

once you’re done

2005-06-13T01:43:00.000+05:00

take a drop
just one, mind,
of his blood
add to it another
of your own then
keep the vial
close to your skin
blood cools faster
than you’d think

nieces

2005-06-13T01:17:00.000+05:00

the littlest hands
want to put on my shoes
carry my handbag
walk in the mist
of my perfume
the littlest feet
clatter around
trying to be me
all grown up

colour me tomorrow

2005-05-26T03:02:00.001+05:00

the afternoon sun painted swirls of yellow
on the bare canvas of me
then evening came and night fell down
dousing its blues and blacks
melting away the golden glow
i wait in the darkness tonight
for the blood red dawn

shadow child

2005-05-26T03:02:00.000+05:00

i see you,
shadow child
adrift on the edge
of awareness and being
you inhabit my soul,
reject my body
remerging year upon year
asking for deliverance.

a minute at most

2005-05-19T01:47:00.000+05:00

cut lose
all articles
life; now poetry

____________

open your coat
as you round the bend
let the wind catch you
and fly

pauses

2005-05-19T01:42:00.000+05:00

I like it best
When the light turns red
And we ramble slowly
To a stop
Absent to each other
Bathed in that glow
Waiting casually for
The other shoe to drop

past tense

2005-05-19T01:35:00.000+05:00

How will it feel
to have to breathe life into you?
to have to deal
with your three-dimensionality
when it has taken so much
strength to let you in
-to my life as an idea?

How will I come to terms
with you being an idea
with a personality,
opinions,
a mind of your own
and a body impossible to deny?

How will I accept you?
Sitting across from me,
eating for sustenance,
conversing to pass time,
extending a hand in friendship?

How will it feel to have no choice?
To be a hypocrite bound
by who I intrinsically am?
Fallen. Your body will fill spaces,
your voice will have to be heard,
your eyes met,
and your feelings acknowledged.

It feels as if my world is limited.
And you will take up all that I have.
You will do so unknowingly.
You will not realize that the air you breathe
freely is the last breath I have.

You will step unfalteringly onto my ledge;
your step is my slip. No room you see.
How much room can I make
in this heart after all? I don’t know
why it is asked of me.

anarkali quits

2005-05-19T01:26:00.000+05:00

no evil king with merciless eyes
no broken hearted prince’s plight
i built these walls with my own hands
no starvation, no shelter less sun
no strings to tie me to this post
i have built my own prison
one brick at a time
how could i have failed to ask
just who this prison pleases most
how could i have failed to see
that i built this on my own

don't say a word

2005-05-19T01:15:00.000+05:00

it isn’t difficult
to betray yourself. do it
everyday in some capacity
or the other. it comes
as easy as changing
clothes, even easier
considering fabric struggles.
necessary betrayals. learn
to drown out your voice so
it is lost forever. one less
voice to be concerned with. it can
only help to allow the others out
as they jostle and elbow
their way to the forefront clamouring
incessantly for attention. give
them the right of way,
amplify them in hope
that they will wear themselves out.
or otherwise, if you are that sort,
reach your hand into the water,
grope blindly for the voice
you buried there, resuscitate it and bring it back
to the surface and hear your own call
and wonder how will it stand apart
from the din?

who me?

2005-05-19T01:05:00.000+05:00

Characteristically capricious
Unabashedly usurping
Sometimes my other self
Surprises me

walk tall

2005-05-19T01:01:00.000+05:00

with my mixed up bag of idioms
slung unapologetically over these
shoulders like a lean cow’s behind,
parchment skin tenting over sharp bones
that will no longer have to curve inwards
to protect this heart that beats wildly
with that fluttering fear in my breast
like a sparrow caught unawares
I will leave here, to return transformed
maybe, baby - one day.

no return

2005-05-19T00:54:00.000+05:00

you haven’t any home. never did. so when you say you feel
homesick it is just a desperate emptiness pulling you deep
into itself. when you curl up and cry you have no space
in your heart to return to. no past to blame no childhood to
hold to trial, just an empty dock, a finger pointed
in accusation at the abyss.

exhale

2005-05-18T02:27:00.000+05:00

push thoughts away
like wayward strands
the breeze blows carelessly
into your eyes
and pay no attention
to the world that rushes
while you stand idly by
forget a while
the life you led and the hopes
and dreams you had
take for yourself just this
moment and deeply,
deeply sigh

no blame

2005-05-18T02:20:00.000+05:00

the oddest thing is that
there is no blame
you had your reasons -
i had some too.
intoxicated we stumbled
blind in the need
to shed our skins,
we of no identity
for i have none for you
and you never knew me

going nowhere

2005-05-09T13:40:00.000+05:00

Today I have no place to be
No one is expecting me
I am not filling the space
You would expect me to be
Today I am a loose end
Rather than a tree, no roots
No shoots, no sky above me
There are no signposts
Where I stand, and that you see,
Is the irony of someone who
Always knew the way from A to B

urdu

2005-04-21T00:10:00.000+05:00

like a stranger’s tongue
it feels foreign in my mouth
while lips part and meet again
surprised at the unexpected reunion
the tongue curls and probes,
a friendly wrestle forms words
undulating with a decadent languor
as I float away on the sound
- treacle waves of molten meaning

pearls

2005-04-21T00:07:00.000+05:00

I can write like string
of moments like pearls
each created alone
irritation made tangible

sell by

2005-04-21T00:04:00.000+05:00

They have a lot
of funny pageants
in some places.
The even have one
for mature ladies.
Past their prime
but still acceptable
enough in a bathing suit.
But they have to be old.
They have to
be 28 and over.

can you feel it?

2005-04-21T00:03:00.000+05:00

Prescription hunger, caught in a bottle;
curative elixir for the anorexic soul.
Just two teaspoons dawn dusk
and in between displace your body
with those who cannot voice their pangs.
Just two, remember, taken daily
Clear crimson, liquid sympathy.

don't move

2005-04-11T21:13:00.000+05:00

I don't love you.
Rather, you are the wall
against which I chose
to break myself.
You will never move.
I will never stop.
And if ever you do
move to embrace me
all that lies between us
will be lost.

2:58 a.m.

2005-04-11T10:58:00.000+05:00

Sometimes.
I think about you too.
It happens.
The mind wanders.
Unavoidable.
It settles
in its favorite spot.
That well worn dip
in the mattress.

laugh lines

2005-04-04T18:33:00.000+05:00

laughter lines
aren’t really wrinkles
but more like badges
of merry merit
and I just can’t stop
trying to earn mine

_________________

someone saw me
laughing out loud
at nothing at all
in the ladies’ loo
i had to explain
that like most things
a good wrinkle takes
constant practice.

meeting

2005-03-31T00:41:00.000+05:00

If this space
is actually a map
how many words
up until
I reach the place
where I meet you?

_______________

I almost
don’t
want to
ever see
you again.
Almost.
I shall go
in wound
tight
and then
unravel
like a piece
of string
that gets stuck
to the sole
of your shoe.

child's eyes

2005-03-30T23:57:00.000+05:00

how bad
and how
bright
things
get one
after
the other
like god
playing
gleefully
with the light
switch

_________________________________

the clinking the clattering a smattering of tinkling laughter like silver sprinkles mixed together with bubbles of giggles popping at the surface like willful children peering out charmed by the grown up smell of the smoke the spirits the ash in the brightly perfumed air mimicking a profusion of hothouse flowers blooming unabashedly making me wish I wasn’t just six tonight

poet

2005-03-30T11:28:00.000+05:00

yes, that’s my daughter. as a matter of fact
she often does sit in the corner by herself
like that. no she’s not special in that way.
but i would say quite unique. she has
a strange way about her. but more than anything
else you see, she makes pearls. yes, you know
those glossy white round things. fortunate?
i would hardly say so. poor child just can’t
seem to string them together.

________________________________

I remember
the evening that
I heard someone
say, I am a poet.
I bristled, was
indignant in fact.
Even though
she was indeed a poet.
I had her books.
Had read each one.
But how could she sit there
and just simply say yes,
I am a poet?

in your garden

2005-03-28T23:00:00.000+05:00

A fist sized lemon drops
Embarrassed
And tries to hide
Its largesse
In the arms of the earth

apology

2005-03-28T22:54:00.000+05:00

Forgive me this trespass that is none at all
Forgive me this absence for I have never been
more present to myself.
And forgive me too, for coming first
to the realization that we are of no help
to one another

stepping out

2005-03-27T22:10:00.000+05:00

I don’t really run,
but I have
this walk
that’s always
threatening
to break into
a run
it allows me to say
that I have never
run after
a bus
for instance
but today
as I tried
to keep pace
with my run
-away life
I happened to step

right

out

of

it

and a pace that does
for asphalt
and corporate
carpeting
does not do
on parallel roads
with their pine needles
and errant pebbles

entry

2005-03-20T23:50:00.000+05:00

when you walk into a room
the earth doesn’t stop
its spinning
the chatter doesn’t stop
its bubbling
it has even been known to happen
that someone didn’t notice
you’ve entered
and that my soul is singing