singing soprano

crumbs of bread on that table
wedge of a mango falling out 
of that pickled jar
I evade the chaos
unbuckle my gloves
and sit down to make a list
leaky tap reminds me of Mozart song
that list  I make goes like this..
I need a few sopranos
some notes to go with it
maybe that opera singer too
Bach will not do,
Beethoven is not what I wish for
I only need music
loud, noisy, nonsensical
that will clear the chaos you see here

patching up...last line first line

patches in snatches

patches of sunlight

I try to gather

in my palm locking all in my fingers

I also gather beads

thread them with wires of sunlight

enclosing the warmth

those snatches of wind

(fancy those!)

I collect in my hand towel

in the upcoming days of drought

I will take all of these out

and fill my emptiness

"can anyone hold transient nostalgia?"

I look the last line of the poem above, patches in snatches, and made that the first line in the poem below and let it go wherever it wanted to, all by itself.

patching up

can anyone hold transient nostalgia?
Is it not an absurd concept
dancing inside one's head

if forks toppled over
spoons held their head high
bowl of dough mixed so well

but why talk of mundane
in the midst of all this?
dancing thoughts can have a pattern

"let it sit for a while, I will find a way 
out of nostalgia, absurd or not"

solemnity marred by hilarity

I stood there outside, in that cold
but feeling the warm of happy people
I don't know what I was waiting for
but definitely not him
did you see that?
the white-bearded fat man rolled through- 
the church doors broke apart from his weight
the solemn occasion was marred by hilarity
when the fat man groaned
I ran towards him
I couldn't believe what I heard?
he wanted a comb to groom his hair
the reindeer laughed while he fumbled
they were busy checking his manifesto
"was his fall in the agenda of that day?"

dead woman and her wants

dead woman wants a clock, one that records her space in a time of her choosing
a space that can't be defined by demarcations, but by her aura
dead woman can't emit an aura, and that makes her sad and she sits down to cry
her tears can't be seen, or felt by her but they flow heedlessly
a mirror, dead woman wishes to see herself in that, all her glory revealed to herself
if only glory could be changed into an object, she would be glad to do that
silence of the dead woman is so deadening, that it scares her too
she strings in the silence, wears it on her neck, wishing someone to buy it from her
dead that she is, yet she wishes to educate us about her ghostly appearance
shadow of herself is so interesting, we can see myriads of colours reflected on sky
swift movements of the ropes topples over her, she is so dead, yet she lives

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am hooked to the dead man's poetry. I find that it gives me the freedom to pursue my thoughts in ways, I can't explain or understand. But I like the outcome. I feel so liberated after writing these pieces. And for the last two days, I was thinking maybe my muse is going to die. Dead man's poetry WILL get me out of it.

plastering

writing dead man's poetry
I think of the alive too
when spirits dance-

ghosts bridge it
I see those shadows
so Santa, help me plaster myself 
on a wall forever

dead woman and her stillness on a cold december morning

dead woman waits for a word, a word that comes from him

it can be any anything but it will make her alive

being dead is so liberating, she can go anywhere

but she stops short of going to him, waiting for a sign, a signal

stillness of her dead circumstances shows her new heights

certain heights she can climb by herself, but for some she needs him

in the corner of death, she turns around, walks in circles

circles don't really take her back to the same place, she finds the tangents too

on a cold december morning, with a hot cup of tea, dead woman waits patiently

she jingles her bangles, loves the sound, but prefers him tangling with her

dead, she can't see her feet, she can see his, and thinks of those as her own

"if only she could embrace what he possesses, and knows he is aware of that"

dead man and his bottle of wine

dead man gets out a bottle of wine, one he had given up when he was alive
when he was alive he was more dead, shunning wine and fine dine
dead man takes a swig, grimaces and spits it out at his own feet
his feet feel so heavy, he had walked miles and miles before his final sleep
dead man is thinking, what is he thinking? OMG, elves are sooo 2009!
that was the year he died, elves carried his body, buried him in a hole
dead man throws away the empty bottle, picks another to drink all night
he doesn't wish to remember how his mind triumphed over his desires,
dead man plans to drink as long as he wants, no one can stop him
death was a welcome diversion, and where have the elves gone?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Also check out dead man and his shoe painting

a picture

a picture
nothing more
blue lifts my mood
I wish to hug that child
his father is lost to him
crown is a burden for the baby too
he is unaware of it as yet
he wants his father to love him, 

"king holds his child, 
but his heart is as dead as his queen"

dead man and his shoe painting

when the dead man wants to dabble in painting, he arranges his brushes

he brushes away the dirt from those shoes, applies a base coat, leaves them to dry

the dead man takes out a charcoal, that piece he pilfered from a pyre,

he sketches on the shoes, a design so chaotic, but orderly for him

on a palette, the dead man mixes paints, and first fills the cracks

(but why paint on a shoe, he utters loudly, he has misgivings too)

the dead man knows, shoes denote freedom, that journey which goes on and on

one shoe can fall apart,  other one might last longer, as did his twin

thinking of his zygoted part, dead man becomes sad and melancholic

but his brush never stops, it goes over corners, makes lines, curves and dots

the dead man's lean brush tells a story on the uppers of shoes

he makes it as easy for us, as complicated as it was for him

"our dead man knows his story needs to be told but where has he gone?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks to Big Tent Poetry, I got to know about Marvin Bell and his Dead Man Poetry. For more Dead Man poems by Marvin Bell, do check out the Poetry.org site.

places

place I used to be

when I was on the threshold of youth

that oak tree

where a three legged dog slept at night

on the edge of the lake

holding hands with a boy

I kissed in the dark nights

the dog is gone

boy is gone

I go there to find palpable emptiness

see you standing in the shadows

your arms reaching out for me

"you bring newness to this place of forgotten era"

melted

broken breath, I left it
shivering on the stairs
icicles as its innards
burnt by frost
now see fire
engulfing dirt
my aorta can take it
while I bleed happiness

winning me over with pointy-toed shoes

to staid for too long
I needed a makeover
I painted my nails green
designed them with dots and lines
when I showed those to you
you smirked
and handed me something
I unwrapped it
an involuntary gasp of shock 
escaped my lips 
when I opened the shoe box
and saw the pointy-toed shoes
I turned around
and hit you hard with those heels

"If you had got me boots, you wouldn't have been booted"

who hid that story for us to find

gaps bolted to metal-
I search for nuts
dropping the key,
while you align walls.
I move that metallic eyesore,
paring dirt-
we find a hidden era,
in an unbelievable quiet.

when I lock it up again
we turn around 
to see something, 
maybe for the last time

"I savour that thread which ties us"

point

from the tangents,

I take apart the circle

that point stands out as a judge

scared, the arrows scatter away

I bring back the ray,

plant it near the point

bereft, circle stands alone

(point was its safety valve)

I give it a triangle,

yet it refuses to look at me

I feel the windless icy chill

while circle collapses

ignoring me,

the point runs towards it,

when it embraces the circle,

it comes alive,

ray, tangent and triangle

dance to their beats in nightfall

"out of their periphery, I draw the curtains"

destined wanderings

going from one place to the other

each day, every passing day

he longs for the complacent days

to feel the morning entering his bones

turning into lazy afternoons

and cozy evenings

to meet his friends

to walk the sidewalks

to ponder over the lake

when the chug of the train

bring hims to his destination

he walks the asphalt

and sees her at the window

a book in her hand

but a pause in her demeanour

when their eyes meet

she disappears from his vision-

at the door she ruffles his hair

"when he encloses into her, he finds in her, his lucidity" 

fairy tale

golden wings 
it stood there near that stream
creature so beautiful
I circled from it
it was gone
I felt an itch on my shoulder blades

had I turned to a fairy?

plateau

in the bin of tangled up holiday,
lights switch off all by themselves.
my fingers cut into my palm
but I search for my platinum ring.
in the darkness
when a soft breath moves against me;
I push it to the plateau
of shaking rattle of my body.
I fill the leaks,
while you free me with your tenseness.

"when my solitaire falls to ground, my plateau becomes a mountain"

astral music

I nudge corners
into the centre
they resist
I persist
my hammer hits again
a column resonates
I hear astral music
in a sandbox

door frames shake
as I chisel away the concrete
I want mud walls
on which I can do finger painting

"enough space you saved for me, give it to me now"

snowed out

I counted the rows of buttons 
on my overcoat
some ungodly reason
I found three missing
I shivered outside the door
window reflecting the dour outside
my breath misted my eyes
it was an effort to see the walls
I felt the demise of my memories

you know all the details
someday you will help me 
in the revival of those
now I wouldn't change my life.

"how absurd, that I can think like this standing in the snow"

retrieval

how does one retrieve you

from wherever you have gone 

shall I serenade ballads

or sing sopranos

maybe you like opera

none of those are my talents

poetry is what is latent

I can't write similes

but seasonings of metaphors

can garnish it well

a few words from you

I can weave into my tapestry

thinking of it as embroidery-

(if you wish I can put numbers)

so help me retrieve you

fallen

your brush 

strokes in the paint

as translucent as skin, 

I observe

the facial expressions.

this planet

since we arrived here

holds all our secrets

no matter how much you try, 

the painting will not be an antidote

of your bloodied past

it would rather enhance your instinct

when your blade cut across bodies

"yet your engravings now project gratitude"

ripples

ripples in that lake
brush our shadows
sharp edges of rock
deflect light
moving sun melds
showing you and me
in throes of passion

"come feel my inner strength"

marked

I advanced into the graveyard
hang out behind granite markers,
wondered how something marks ones life,

I did not pander to my instincts
words invoked action-
I shuffled those around

things you wish you hadn't done.
so much time passed
before you knew the difference,

I looked back for flames
that I never believed in.

shifting with the winds

with utmost care
he rubbed the tarnished trophy
and summoned the ghosts.
he never expected to find his own mother 
in that mist of shadows- 
shifting with the wind 
which came out of nowhere. 
he reached out, 
shaking as he silently cried, 
to embrace that ghost, 
but he found no flesh nor blood nor bone, '
closing his eyes he swam back in time 
and reached home
in his mind, he saw his mother- 
thinking how she once she gathered her purse,
looked around, but did not see him. 
she sobbed and cried, where are you, my son?

"son and mother, lost from each other, 
unaware who is the ghost,
both silently crying into that trophy"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do visit One Stop Poetry, Magpie Tales and We Write Poems

glittering gloom

on a gloomy and windy day
I need an apprentice
(for what you may ask)
someone has to
paint stars in to the gloom, 
fill it with glitters;
rewind the wind
to let it flow above
so as to reach the sky
and make it peerless

"I will towel the ground,
let that stranger watch me,
little knowing he is my apprentice"

inferno

I was calm
amidst the hissing sound
"pardon me," said Tom T. Urkee,
my nearest neighbor,
"I could only save this journal."
"thanks, that is all I need,"
I said.

claustrophobia

the train enters that tunnel
I expect it to grab me
my ears ring with muffled sound

in dimmed light
shadows become apparitions when
the train enters that tunnel

coldness seeps into me
inaudible movement scares me
I expect it to grab me

daylight becomes night
each sound resonates
my ears ring with muffled sound
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Cascade Poem is like this:
1st Stanza: line 1, line 2, line 3
2nd Stanza: line a, line b, repeat line 1
3rd Stanza: line c, line d, repeat line 2
4th Stanza: line e, line f, repeat line 3

intriguing walls

at midnight, I hear
a latch fall open
in an attic closet, and then
a profound silence

dark stucco of low clouds
clutch the sky

a branch falls into the street.

a snail travels up a tree-
a long happy journey.
a little water drips with delight

from a tap in the park nearby

I look at the changing walls

stories hidden there intrigue me

"reflections of such proportions 

are more important than sleep"

foregone and forgotten

night hour makes a mockery
of forgotten wisdom
resident death within life
is an ancient inevitability
(we forget that in the quest of immortality)
I pour divine wine
into a receptacle of floating waves
know this.... 
In my younger and more vulnerable years
I also gave my blood
which mingled with the earth

"violet of violence somehow fills the void"

echoing parenthesis

parenthesis meets its match
in apostrophe
I listen to echoes. 

after a drab October, 
the early November sunshine 
cast golden rays on comma

another absurdity

echoed sky

grey pearls;
unevenly hued
un-rounded
hold my ethnic pendant;
the monkey God sleeps serenely
when he awakes
he will fly through the thick clouds
pluck through the echoed air-
get me the scented sky

I will cherish it, 
also the blue background
to show the true me to myself

 "totally absurd ideas suddenly make sense"

electronically yours

tiny electrons,
arrayed into words- 
jump into my page

I play around with them
the fire reaches out
melting me immediately

a seed, fruition
at its fringe-
is a gesture no more

inside walls of my skull
tackle a patchy tattoo
myriads of treasure

"tiny electrons enthrall me, always" 

certainity of the uncertainity

I see the remains

in the aftermath of the event
she was but all limbs

behind the yellow track.

no, stop no passengers

they are travelling 

with uncertainty,

different entities,

varied needs 

related to each other by motion.

coming back to these remains,

I look again disjointly thinking

that it guarantees to bequeath sight

to someone unknown.

"death, despite its enormity, can also heal someone"

nothingness

pause gives me
so much pain
I try to engulf it
but it spills,
enters the cores
and the pores
I can deal with anger
numbness scares me

"leaving me with nothing"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Again I needed to write here that not all I pen is a personal reflection. Please do bear that in mind while reading and commenting. Remember, poets/writers have very vivid imaginations and have the insight for empathy too. You will agree with that if you are either or both. However, many a times we forget the distinction and presume and assume.

embracing weeds

I saw the message in the sky
arrived as soon as I could

weeds embraced her lovingly
ignoring her raucous breathing

her closed eyes were strung together
(I wanted those to open and look at me)

I took a blanket, covered her carefully
although I knew it was a lost cause

it was the 11th Anniversary of 10th day
of I don't recall what (wait while I think)

she obviously had forgotten it too
or I wouldn't have found her in water

I had been anticipating to meet her 
those words had already formed in my mind

"do you remember what we promised when we met...?
certainly not your inevitable death "

charcoal shadows

just a drawing
charcoal on a piece of paper
a butterfly flits over hills
that spider calls out to me
into its parlour

the lovers that we are
together we make shadows

oblivious to the fact 

we have been immortalized

in this yellowed paper

"when the rooster enters it,
I almost resent its presence
what does he see that I can't"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"together we made shadows" is the line contributed by Mallery. I changed made to make.

panorama

intoxicated
I sway into the circle
bending that crooked arc

green lattice eyes
deflect the sun
gravitate towards me

kernels of truth
abruptly try to escape
but I catch them from space

I wield a camera
and my panorama
is psychedelic

bits and pieces

if you check through carefully
you will find scattered pieces
all over your house.
they belong to me
a tarnished coin
(you had picked it for me from a roadside)
a roll of scotch tape
(almost finished),
a tiny pair of scissors
(you clipped your nails with that)
half finished bar of soap
(that lavender scent drove you crazy)
a chipped mug with my zodiac sign
(Aries love the Ram!)
torn piece of a tissue with my poetry
(a mushy love poetry, I cringe I wrote that)

"I want those all, along with the chunk of me
that you never realized you had"

patches in snatches

patches of sunlight
I try to gather
in my palm locking all in my fingers

I also gather beads
thread them with wires of sunlight
enclosing the warmth

those snatches of wind
(fancy those!)
I collect in my hand towel

in the upcoming days of drought
I will take all of these out
and fill my emptiness

"can anyone hold transient nostalgia?

a legend

his stature carries through centuries
not a legacy of one country,
transcends boundary
yet I find
"Abraham Lincoln was a lot shorter than I thought he would be"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Abraham Lincoln was a lot shorter than I thought he would be..." is from Saturday Centus...

a postcard

in today's world of emailing
I send you a postcard
my e-words are tactile
but I send more concrete
as you are aware
words do get lost in the cyber world
but my postcard you can touch,
savour or even inhale

those crooked words speak
(if you read between the lines),
of my recondite emotions

tablet of time

a tablet of time 
broken-
no one can break the aeons
they move so fast
in a blink.
here the tablet lies in debris
the moments already passed
into eternity
I see the dates
(a day of masquerades?)

I bury myself under the tablet, 
into the debris, 
fall asleep, with time
I don't need any other lover

corners

corners I have covered
with statues which stand tall
a flower vase with a fragile flower
looks soulfully at me
I never had noticed its rampant growth
I touch it gently
feels its tremors
the photo frame from the shelf
falls on the floor

the wooden corners are chipped

I pick the pieces from the floor
set back the photo frame on the shelf
tremors are gone now
my gentleness soothes the flower
its rampant growth is stopped
it still touches my soul
the fragile vase will hold it  still
statues will watch indulgently
I will still have my corners covered