MARITAL DISBLISS

A seven-year itch

Has set in our marriage

Unable to tolerate each other

A cry for breathing space.

Love gone stale?

Like withered leaves

That fall off strong branches

With strength and resource in them to rejuvenate

A colourful spring

Hidden beauty of our brown Earth

Where all colours come from.

I would like to go to Moonar

On a honeymoon all by myself

With my poetry along for company

And think longingly of my husband at home

And miss him, and cry for him, and crave for him

So when I return, I will be a good wife

Noncrabby, nonnagging, nonnasty

Sobered and steady and ready to appreciate

And listen as he speaks of football matches and Governmental statistics.

MY POETRY CHAIN

I pick the ripple off the rivulet

The hope from birds’ eggs

The lush green off the forest firs

The speed off horses’ legs

The scent off the dewy rose

The blueness off the skies

The velvet off a puppy’s nose

The colors off butterflies

I pick the majesty off the mountain

The fire off the Sun

The wetness off the monsoon rain

The silver off the Moon

The warmth off a friendship

The core off a heart in love

The mother’s cloak of protection

The Saint’s reverence for God above

I pick the sweat off workers’ brows

Those beads of daily gain

And string them all into my verse

To make my Poetry Chain!

IN A CROWD

The cars sped,
traffic policeman
screams, screeches, halts
ragamuffin pestering me to buy flowers
mother tugs at my arm
come on! let's go!
the street lights are on
the guffaw of chai-drinking men
sounding bawdy jokes
the strange sense of deja vu prevails...
have I been here before?
same place, same people
 I turn in your direction
looking up to where you stand
devouring me with your eyes...

NARCISSUS

Everything is unto me. 

Even the eclipse. 

It could have come to predict my own predicament. 

If I don't have one, I will create one - just for the eclipse. 

And you know, those people in the corner shop? 

They're talking only about me. 

And that man, oh...I think he's going to say, "I love you!" 

If he isn't thinking that why is he looking at me that way.?

Why is he commenting like that on facebook? 

Ooooohhh!! 

Everything is about me. 

Yes, even the tides. 

Did you know the tide that went out took my happiness with it?

Yes! It came only for that. 

The stars, the moon, the sky, 

- and my boss.

Did you know he singled me out? 

He singled me out to find faults. 

What does that tell you? 

He likes singling me out. 

I tell you, everything is rigged. 

Everything is about me.

THE EMPTY BOX

It's an Empty Box.

We emptied it

Carefully

Because it’s time

We moved on with our lives

And there's no place in that

For a 'you and I'.

So, slowly there were

No tea times together

No talk times

No returned calls

No messages

No visits

No friendly handshakes

No shared laughter.

Heaped insults instead

And refusals

And deliberate misunderstandings

And scorn.

Till a day came

When we both knew

That the box was empty.

So empty

That we should have felt no qualms

When we sealed it tight

And decided to throw it away

Once and for all.

But then we looked at each other

Eyes bright with unshed tears

pleading

"Just a little while more"

And the box remains

Not empty at all...

WHAT MAKES YOU TICK?

now that i like you,
let me rip you apart
and see what makes you tick.
are you a freak
that you go to maniacal levels
to do something?
(what makes you tick?)
or are you ambitious
that you want to rule the world?
(what makes you tick?)
do you love me?
if you did, wouldn't you...
(what makes you tick?)
if you don't love me,
are you playing games
with my heart,
you nasty little...!!! # ** 
(what makes you tick?)
look, suppose i make a bargain
will you change your ways?
(what makes you tick?)
you're a woman
and all women are...
(what makes you tick?)
let me give you a bone
and see if you will take it
(what makes you tick?)
if i looked at another woman, then perhaps??
(what makes you tick?)
it's important that i know
what makes you tick
cause i have to dismantle you
and throw you away.

WHERE EVEN EAGLES DON'T DARE

In the silent place in my mind -
you don't exist

your narrow, four-lined
square, boxed
suffocating point of view 
does not exist

your inability to comprehend 
any world beyond that
does not exist

your funny little 
self-righteous speeches
from there
don't exist

your rigid rules
of shoulds and should nots
don't exist

your presumptuous
misnomer
as grandeur
your pomposity 
does not exist

your crooked sadistic jokes
that thankfully 
I don't get
don't exist

your unquenchable wrath
at my freed soul
flying high.......high!!!
and your helpless inability to control 
me
does not exist

'Cause in that little space in my mind
is a laugh
of unbridled mirth
at your childish 
and futile efforts
to chase shadows
and try to conquer
the UNCONQUERABLE.