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The cursor throbs
Against the white screen
The tease beckons me
To tell all to Microsoft Word

As if by blackening the screen I will become white again.

Hiding

.
When I remember what I have done
I block my thoughts
And shut my eyes tight
And cover my eyelids with my palms
And my palms with my knees
And the whole with a blanket

But the blanket is covered
With a sticky sense of guilt
Which oozes through the layers
Reminding me it is useless
To try and shut out
Something that is within

Blabber

To cleave
Is to join
And also to part
Isn’t that smart?

Twenty years
We have cleaved
Mind and heart
Together. And apart.

Like a sticker
Pulled off once
And in vain
Stuck again

Sair

Raat gyarah baje
Amma ke saath sair pe nikli

“Koi jo tumhein samjhega
Wahi tumse shaadi karega
Bachpana chhod do ab”

Haarsingaar ka phool
Haath mein kuchalte hue
Maine kuchh nahin kaha

Ghar aake dekha
Haath peeley ho gaye hain

The Day After

Black half moons cup my eyes
My guilty hands weigh down my arms
It looked like daring enterprise
But time dissolved the quixotic charms

I will swallow the unborn scream
And of the deed leave not a sign
I will sleep, and I will dream
And in that dream all will be fine

Simile

Thinking of you
Is like running a finger
Along the jagged edges
Of an old Tupperware lid
While talking on the phone
With a consultant
About money

Make-Believe

I painted a sheet black
And cut up some silver bits
I pinned up the silver and the black
And across the ceiling it sits

When I flash the torch at night
The silver beams back at me
I have not seen a sky
But this is what a sky must be

I looked at you when you didn’t know
And painted you in my head
I smiled when I saw you happy
And your sorrow left me dead

In my dreams you see me too
Holding hands, you walk with me
I have not seen love
But this is what love must be

Mid-Day Ramblings

Busy ants made a palace of grit
And the mountains laughed at the audacity of it

In small ellipses the moths did flit
And the planets smiled at the audacity of it

The glow worms on the branch did sit
And the stars frowned at the audacity of it

A condemned man’s throat was slit
And the Lord wept at the audacity of it

Just Scribbling

This girl was less than more alright
Busy people never saw it at first sight
But if you took a close, hard look
Your poor little heart would surely be shook
This was none of your minor complications
She had four heads: pointing in four directions!

East and West and North and South
She spoke to each with a different mouth
If that’s not already tough to swallow
She did not know which nose to follow
Tempted to run four simultaneous races
She mostly fell flat on one of her faces

Advice from elders and wisdom from seers
Poured into one head from eight eager ears
Perceptions were morphed and tangled inside
Living by fours where one should reside
She could see four sides to everything in life
And all the four sides were constantly at strife

Never sure whether she was coming or going
She became ill-willed and tantrum-throwing
Unable to escape the multiplicity ghost
She finally stood still and became a signpost
There she stands, watching the world go by
Two faces smile, and two of them cry

Jottingz

With what elan they thrust and parried
Till money won, and love miscarried
I often wonder who is more harried
The one he cheated, or the one he married?

Wondering

My eyelids are heavy and my smiles are brittle
Have I slept too long and dreamt too little?

Midnight Ramblings

Air-blown kisses are just that: Air
Promises made to be broken are fair
The only smiles that last
Are those in iron cast
And stolen glances don’t mean you care