Friday, 22 August 2025

Flash Poem : Distortion

Dreams dive unto the night. Distorted imageries, fragments of fiction that never was. Never will be. I have walked million miles with the moon to reach out to you, to your universe of blissful songs. Perhaps you will wake up to my despondence. Not once but everytime I cry out for you. Hold me into your embrace of stars. But you have only echoed the silences making me believe once again that there never was and there never will be.


Sunday, 17 August 2025

Morning Tea

आह! यह सुबह की गरम चाय की प्याली
चुस्कियां लेते हुए सोचती हूं "आज दिन अच्छा बीतेगा"
मेरे खिड़की के बाहर चमेली के पेड़ पर
वह काला कौआ मुझे घूरता हुआ अचानक बोल पड़ा,
"क्यों! लग गए उम्मीदें बांधने ? अगर अच्छा न बीता तो?"
मैने झुंझलाकर कहा, "तुम निराशावादी!! क्यों न होगा अच्छा? गर न भी हुआ दिन है गुजार लेंगे।"
"एक्जैक्टली ", उसने जोर से चिल्ला कर कहा,
"गुजार लो! गुजार लो!"
फिर पंख झटक कर ऊपर की टहनी पर जा बैठा
और मुझे एक टक देखता रहा
मैने मुस्कुरा कर कहा, "अब तुम भी सीख देने लगे..."
उसने सर झुकाकर बोला, " तुम इंसान...क्या करें?
रहना जब है साथ तो ..."

Aah! This steaming cuppa morning tea
Sipping I thought," The day's gonna go well"
On the Chameli tree by the window that crow 
Staring at me suddenly started, "Why! 
You're again piling hopes ? 
What if it's otherwise?"
Irritated I replied, " You pessimist!
Why should it be otherwise?
Even if it is...it's just a day...will let go by."
"Exactly!", He cawed loudly,
"Let go by! Let go by!"
And then he plonked on the branch above
And kept peering at me 
I smiled," Now, you too preaching?"
He took a bow and said, "Ye humans! 
What to do? As we are fated to be together 
So..."


Friday, 1 August 2025

Scars


Surgical OPD
A frantic Google search on phone
To figure what the surgeon hid
Beneath his charming facade

A confounding jargon
Of procedures and tests
He knew me inside out
Strange! Wasn't it my body?

The first was an emergency 
Critical...life and death situation

Three months later

The second incision

I asked him how long the cut was
He chuckled, "That should be your least concern right now?"

"Remember! It's my body, my guts, my feelings...you are talking of"

But I kept quiet
Even a sheepish smile I managed
Did he see through me?

After the third 
He said, "Go back to routine. Lead a normal life."

What so normal?
New normal... You've scarred me right?

"The wounds have healed...no puss...no bleeding... "

"It's hard...no sensation when I touch it..."

"Apply coconut oil...give it six months...the suppleness will be back..."

Half a year to feel my own self
I laugh 

My long lost friend apologized, "Am sorry! I did not know. I should have checked on you more often..."

"Never mind," I say forgivingly.
"I have survived..."






Today's Prompt : Scar

Sunday, 27 July 2025

An Acrostic

Swayed and staggered
      Twisted and twirled by the ghoulish wind
On the almost barren, haggard branches
       Rags of leaves once vibrant and verdant 
Mourning the memories of a swirling spring

Clinging to an aeon of bygone dreams 
       Etched and inked on the canvas of mind 
Limp now perhaps once agile
       Every now and then trying to rise
Bent, broken , browbeaten, bruised 
       Ravaged yet holding back hopes tight
And something more...d'you know what it is?
      'Tis called the will to live, love life  
In moments even of despair and doubt
      On wings of fanciful delight
'N cooing the eternal song of rhyme
               "See! I am still alive"  



Wednesday, 7 May 2025

Day And Night

yellow afternoon 
whiteness of the walls whiter 
windows bare curtains drawn
floral prints falling in drapes
two pigeons on the sill
heads tucked 
...dozing....

whirring of fans 
from the other room
soft

a few
spells
to live tor

on the other side
must have been 
quiet too
stealthy
starry 
still

night
to die for....?



Friday, 11 April 2025

I Leave A Note

some days are heavy 
staring at the ceiling 
hours stop 
how blank a wall can be
monotony of a whirring fan

let me lend a story
of angst and agony 
of a breached contract
by staying alive
enduring
why?
is there anything left to do?
apart from the rut 
meaningless

they say your sufferings are 
attached to the body
the soul is free of pain
you are the soul
the brahman

i breathe in deep
i wish to feel the soul 
none
is it dead? 

the body whines
listen to me...heal me 
i give in