Liar

 Liar

'What is on your mind?'

you ask - I

know not.

I can recollect

the pain in my wisdom teeth,

the sprain in my left ankle

the nocturnal head-aches

the vision blurred on my scratched glasses

and the lonely nights

'What is on your mind?'

you repeat -

'you are always,love' -

this is how a dream undone,

a warrior surrenders to rest,

resurrects a liar.

Chronicle

Chronicle

Without the luxury of friendship

a lonely kite flutters

towards the Sun, takes along

shadows of wait -

intimate,

the world reduces

to dew drops camouflaged

as rain - the men lie,

the women forget.

Dazzle

Dazzle

First,
There was a dark spot
then another and
another - till
the sky is black
as slate -
you
turn back ,
love -
dazzle the stage.

Solitude

Solitude

The emotions wait
For the traffic signal
to change

You drift away with
the torn advertisement canvas,
there is a drizzle in the city
urchins play
with the rain  -
I close my eyes.

The images fill up
shadows of togetherness
cluttered - this is how
every man trades his solitude.

Wake up Neeta - see
how a man
loses his world.

Chaotic revelations

Chaotic revelations

The moon is dim
the sea calm,
I wait
for you,
the night prepares
to fall asleep -
a lightning, rude

the sound of
camera shutters
approach the stage

I turn back,
where is my boat,
friend?

The sea

The sea

Layers of cloud
hang in your room
shield my eyes,

you wait -
the sand waits
the sea vanishes

again.

Silence

Silence

Everytime I leave you

You massacre me with your silence -

punctuated,

your heavy breath

splits me

like plaits

of a fading rainbow.

Yet,

I concur my dried lips

walk up to your door,

wait -

Talk to me Neeta

Tell me you never knew me,

at least.

The stranger

The stranger

Feeling discomfort I turn

He was there

smiling as I expect -

colder than the

womb of the forzen sea,

'Do you fear me?'

I keep mum,

'There is no shame' he assures -

I open my eyes

to memories recollected

in celluloid frames,

I can see my son holding on to his toys -

'He is too young' I wail

'He will grow his own way', He

cannot be wrong, I know.

I rush through the open door

Close the windows

He waves and fades -

'Just yet again', I whimper,

recoil as the stranger visits

another home.

Sentinel

Sentinel

I prepare

to rest-

a long day,

remembrances

of

chronicled fatigue

a lonely kite

waits

with my words -

never sleeps

O lord

O lord

Under the copulating sky

the buses roar

at the pigeons' flight

the station hangs

in a frame ,

the bustle in the airport -

all leave me numb

o lord

give me a shelter

in your home,

you take my body

I beg your soul.

Wait

Wait

The float bobs

once more,

the angler waits -

hooking himself

to the bait.

I pay out the line,

the reel runs out

the fishing line,

the rod - bend

further away.

The sky above

is blue with love

I move up

for the roe -

the angler holds back.

The Waiting Room

The Waiting Room

I

They come alone

Red

Green

Blue

Walk with you

Talk till your words

Dry up -

Then they leave

Alone.

You get up,

Bathe,

Fill up and greet

Another

Transit passenger.

II

They change trains,

I whisper in the ears

Tales - as they wait,

They wait, to leave me.

In silent dusk

I wander

with pregnant hope,

I wait, to be emptied yet again.

Death

Death

The disheveled

wallet

flung

memory pages

like

the popcorn machine

crisp

minute

brown

i walk

through

a monochrome forest

a sun

no shadow

brief interlude

the dance of death.

She

She

She cavorts

through

the shadows

of

genteel remembrances

quiet

pecked my mind

I fall oh

from her

chest

of drawers

to be her

footsteps.

The Referee

The Referee

It is

precisely

a football

match, you

score

goals , they

hit you

at

the toes, shin

relentless, till

you pay

back only

once the referee

flashes red

at your toes, shin

you lose

your

game, He laughs

at you, finds

another lover

and

flashes his cards.

Longing

Longing

Longing never

ends in tears

raise the can

see for yourself

said the grand-mother

she then opened

her crooked palm

a mirror holds

my face in her

look

she whispered

The fragments

scattered

hold bits of me

whine and

fade

in the dust.

dry.

Fear

Fear

There is a muddle

Of short boys and tall girls,

I look out for my son –

‘I will be here for you, dad’, he promised once,

The afternoon Sun glances through the leaves of the island

Like a sweet trance it dissolves in time.

I wakeup in sweat –

Did it ever happen? Or is it my nightmare?

I try to remember his lullabies,

I scamper through the rooms,

His uniform hangs in the corner – I falter,

My child is lost in a man.

Poetry

Poetry

You fly off the old letters

The twigs' orgasm for the tree -

I swallow the paths

In circles - like the yellow pupil of your eyes,

I miss the lanes,

You play with metaphors and turn to poetry.

Forever Neeta

Forever Neeta

Who are you Neeta?

Where do you stay?

Bombay,Madras?

Or, Dilli?

I don't know.

Someone asks if

She is imaginary.

'Have you met her?'

they demand.

I meet you everyday

In deep splendour

I miss you everynight

To sit with the moon.

Do I care if you are

So carelessly real?

The bridges are burning -

Forever yours.

Going out

Going out

She said

"Going out" -

few leavings

never couple with

a return,

but, I

waited

like the asbestos sheet,

holding drops of her -

the drumming of

rain.

Quartet

Quartet

1.

 Like the sleeping buses

In the garage,

I rest my pieces - disoriented,

The freedom is till the Sunrise.

2.

'I am cursed by you and all',

She pointed her fingers at me - left,

My hand is bound in love,

I have no fingers left to point.

3.

Inside the aquarium

There is a loner,

I was him for long,

Now I changed the side.

4.

Urchins play in the rain-

Naked,

I had been taking everything off

Raindrops shield me, again.

Reservoir

Reservoir

A drop of water

traversing

between the head

and the toe

finds me,

was I leaving?

Then

another drop meets me

following, another

piercing like arrows,

the dry within

softens up.

Now,

water everywhere

trickling

like a teen love

the insides of

a deserted reservoir.

Rain

Rain

As rude as rain

I come to you

uncalled,

you were filling up

solitude

with poems, then

‘wasted a lot of water, man’

I look at your eyes

and know you are true.

Goodbye

Goodbye

The greatest sin

was to believe

in love

you

faded with

the black and white

pictures

stroke of a brush –

look at the insider

Neeta –

tired and innate,

look at his eyes

bidding goodbye.

She

She - I

She cavorts

through

the shadows

of

genteel remembrances

quiet

pecked my mind

I fall oh

from her

chest

of drawers

to be her

footsteps.

She - II

She doesn't know

When to smile,

When to remain interested

Or, when not to -

Cause,

She is just a shadow of time.

She walks far away

She comes to me

She is like a whiff -

Sudden and warm

Yet, she forgets

She is a shadow of mine.

I take her

To my boat

And flutter she goes

Like the kite above -

The alleys know

The time is mine.

Pain

Pain

My fingers run up and down
In a frenzy -
They are pensive, pale,
The nails are blue
In sickening grief,
I continue the search.

Centuries ago on a dull night
I had kissed your lips with my thoughts,
You had internalized
The crystals of yearning -
From one moon to the next and
Left me vacant.

The sky

The sky

In our sky of silence

Your dreams flutter their tail,

Glide up,

Forget.

I have followed them

Every time,

My strings tired,

Sad.

Painted black

The canvas beckons,

I wind up my kite –

The sky is yours.

Signals

Signals

Through the wires

And towers across

Lands spread so far apart

My trembling voice

Touches your lips,

They swell

In virgin happiness

Is it all virtual?

There are streaks of signals

Casually in my room,

I know you stayed the night

Rummaging my pile

Of pregnant wait.

The caterpillar

The caterpillar

She, a brutal commoner

He a poet,

And both tread the annals of togetherness,

The moving images leave

Between dawn and dust,

They enter the cocoon

And wait for a caterpillar

To paint colours.

Us

Us

If solitude can be traded

I would keep your jar of fire-flies,

For I can't measure up

The silence of my breath -

You grin and walk away,

Your footprints mingle with the

Lonely sun, as if its me.

           

If solitude can't be traded

I would set free your fire-flies,

They circle round the hill

As confettis from my childhood,

You stay close and knit

The moon,

The sun,

Us.

Sweet Rush

Sweet Rush

The night grays at getting older –

I clasp my hand in yours,

Are we close enough? I wonder

I wanted to split you open,

I wanted to split me open – as my past

Tinges my love with the dews of sorrow.

I have become my shadow

To lift from your pain, to caress your empty lips

I bare my heart and

I bear your heart –

They read when the words

Have finally gone to sleep.

Arrow in your eyes

Arrow in your eyes

I met you at dusk

I distanced myself from the strangulated moon,

I swayed in urban happiness,

I raised the bar of expectation --

I lost you at dawn,

When the trains wake up, and

I pray never to follow

That arrow - in your eyes.

Forget me not

Forget me not

She lifts her up

And walks out -

Its dark there and I stare

The monitor glows,

And blinks .

I wait longer than her breath

As she whimpers "Forget me not"

For, get me not?

I search her through the

Google search pile, peeking at

Every window of the city

Every alley of the virtual suburb

Every corner of the frozen mind,

Where is the axe? I wonder and

Sleep through the entire night.