Jul 9, 2012

Red Owned

You are known, you know
I mistook you for royalty.
As if, no dime was ever dropped,
to temporarily immortalize you.
But you're decked
in nothing but a lot of
soft, crisp cotton and
one big, dangling pearl.

You have my apologies.

So many have said so much about you
I’d lend your glare for them, but
Whenever I look in the mirror, I stop.
For one second, then a few.
My mouth opens slightly,
and every time, my teeth show.
On its own,
my tongue never tries to hide them

Why is a mouth red inside?

Visual Image Used: Girl With a Pearl Ear-Ring by Johannes Vermeer. Created around the mid 1600s.



Jun 25, 2012

Sinner


There's a wind blowing towards the North
and the leaves are aware
a tale begging for insinuation
sets forth cog wheels, circling in
rhythm perfection

intoxicated by half a promise
the lovers dance and revolve,
come rain come hell
come macabre upon their facade
come adultery, come idealism
come real life, come real love.

May 20, 2012

Pyre Green


the smell of cigarette smoke
likes to follow me, can't leave me
it contorts my lies and wrings them
and knuckles knead and knead them
until the diaphragm hurts

thoracic cavity
cavity -
thoracic
grey ash flies along the night
smoked black
gummy tar
the need, the want
the need not to not want

it follows me
it sticks to me
it looks me in the eye so that I should not sleep
it speaks into my mind so that I should not think
it speaks of you, of
how you can already see
someone else in my skin

May 7, 2012

Of fairness



a poem of little worth is written
by the poet who refuses to
feel everything that they expressed


a poem of little worth is written
about someone who has not earned
the glory of being a muse


a poem of value
should only be born from
something strong
like moon light
like summer fruit
like anger, like hate
like euphoria.

Apr 16, 2012

The Shining



Confused and befuddled, a night arrives
Maybe it’s a new seat you occupy when you look at the moon, 
Maybe it’s the new person in your house
Maybe it’s the lack thereof.
Times when little things that a lot of people have always said
Finally coalesce
And make sense, a horrible amount of sense.
The night when hope disappears


But because truthfully, it was never there at all.

Feb 28, 2012

Black Eye

Try to breathe quietly, and you'll remember
that it was all
only what they thought they should say.


Blink again and see
few have seen you
without reference to
experiences and logic and observations

Breathe again and forgive.
With time
They'll become a little bit wiser for it.

Feb 23, 2012

Glitterati

                And then I remembered
Back straight
Chin up
rising hand, soaring feet.
dainty waist flies up


The feathery skirt sobered down.
Translucent silhouette.


Ever eye, mind lights
The masses rise loudly,
they sparkle and cheer. Now
twirl the air, land on your feet.


Note: The line "Ever eye, mind lights" is from 'Ghazal' by Marylin Hacker. 

Feb 22, 2012

The Beak of a Vulture

There's a strange place where my mind lives;
where in all my strings have You tied this knot?

I refuse to understand the point --
the point of adrenaline,
the fight or flight response.
The eagle has wings, not I.
The bear has claws, not I.
It's a strange place where my mind lives.
Where in all my strings have You tied this knot?

My spine unyielding, it is
Clockwork worthy of ticking, yet resistant to time
but he sees me.
his ghost touches my spine.

You said I could be happy tomorrow,
If I can suffer today.
You realize I could brave tomorrow,
If I could be happy today?

    There's a strange place where my mind lives,
    Where in all my strings have You tied this knot?

Feb 21, 2012

On Calamity's Orders

And so the dam burst open.
The river punched through,
Like the shooting flames
That scatter the feathers of a phoenix

As if the calmness in fluidity
Had eaten itself.
No longer playfully impatient,
Water had agreed to dance up a disaster.
Ready to crumble everything it needed to.
In spite of hope,
In spite of love,
In spite of justice.

With sheer might perched on its shoulder,
Water set out to do
Everything it was told to.
Obedience was all it knew.

If better words for an apology existed,
Grievance never would.
We need shadows to see
As much as we need light to live.

Feb 20, 2012

Clock Wands

Suppose you are traveling by a series of houses,
would you ever peek into them?
would you wonder how different that household might be from yours?
Is the silhouette behind the curtains of a young woman or of an old lady?
What did she do today? Is she happy? tired? reading?
Maybe she's expecting, maybe she doesn't know yet.
Well, she also doesn't know that a passing stranger just saw her.
She'll just go back to her life. Even if she wishes dearly for it to change.

Feb 19, 2012

Venus

from one end of the spoke on a wheel
like a dried and curled leaf caught in a wind
the ends rotate in pairs


the stars you see in the sky
the sky that holds us today
today when we know
know all about the stars


that some of them aren't stars at all
in one of them, the wind bellows
no trees to stop it
it throws clouds of light, swarms of sand
smudges the edges like
charcoal on a hastily drawn sketch.


and finally, there are people on earth
on earth where everyone is happy
happy and sporting smiles for all to see
see them be happy
and they'd rather be watching a storm instead.

Feb 18, 2012

Of Fractals and Butterflies

the monsoon hides clouds with rain
the flower hides pollen in smell
       a snowball rolls down a hill
       and grows and grows


years later he will still blame himself
       not quite sure how
he managed to
become responsible for the woes of
       a broken camel's back


and years later, it will still remain
       a secret
how a drop of water
once fell on a flower
and sent it flying
towards the mountain and the snow
       where it rolled for much too long.

Feb 16, 2012

for the shy kid

big dip big bounce
it hits the ground and
it comes right back


big dip big bounce
it's coming for your palms now


the floor won't break
the ball won't pop.


it never really does,
you'll never really drown.

Feb 10, 2012

And Then It Ends

like the humility of a bird's 
existence, that is left perched on a branch 
stunned, as the bird itself disappears with two feathery beats.

you know, if you stop breathing properly
if often enough, your heart paces irregularly
your insides will feel like they're about to fall
your backbone will feel flaccid like your lungs
and a few times every hour
they will all just slide for a second,
then they will be caught by
whatever it is in the mind
that holds our bodies together
while we are alive.

its not fear or dread that does this
it is the way a human body works.
feedback mechanism
and a soul trying so hard to forgive.

the beauty however, of being alive,
is that life just goes on
our bodies are willing, prepared to be under duress
just never for too long.
so if you can just,
not die from it all
you will swim.

watch my bird fly now.

and then it ends


like the humility of a bird's existence
that is left perched on a branch, stunned
as the bird itself disappears with two feathery beats.

you know, if you stop breathing properly
if often enough, your heart paces irregularly
your insides will feel like they're about to fall
your backbone will feel flaccid like your lungs
and a few times every hour
they will all just slide for a second,
then they will be caught by
whatever it is in the mind
that holds our bodies together
while we are alive.

its not fear or dread that does this
it is the way a human body works.
feedback mechanism
and a soul trying so hard to forgive.

the beauty however, of being alive,
is that life just goes on
our bodies are willing, prepared to be under duress
just never for too long.
so if you can just,
not die from it all
you will swim.

watch my bird fly now.