The chair you left with me is an asylum of fear. Whenever it swings, the pungent aroma of your Cuban cigars pervades the breeze and my room fills with spiraling rings of smoke. When it swings, I can compile a thousand poems on solitude and hear your slogans rippling in the air. The vacant chair you left with me is[Read More…]

Cancer Is not just a zodiac sign Like a crab its effects are not benign…. It is malign Life threatening Physical and mental taxing Deadly disease Will not leave body with ease…. It seeps into the system Like corruption in society And all the healthy cells cease To exist like virtues Demolished by vice …. Colostomy bag Hangs like a[Read More…]

I   A Kingly creature; now creatureless King An Empire out of breath while breathless doing Air, water, land all three commanded to remain in place and serve They wilt under the lash of gentle commerce whilst jolly plenty stumbles along in filthy blindness All living things now cringe at the gross summons of Man Yet meanwhile Gaia gathers up[Read More…]

The tree reaches…the way a hand Reaches–towards the sky, sunlight, rain, the moon; Towards all things known…and yet to be. Upward, Outward…towards our better selves…and others’ Better selves; towards new and old “realities”– What may be, and what has been. We can’t grasp All there is to grasp…but, open-hearted, We can reach all that is attainable. Wales’ tallest tree had[Read More…]

A storm gathers fast on the distant horizon, dim but visible. Murky skies and bloated gray clouds mesh into terrific beauty—and rumble of thunder that cleaves the day-gloom with a dazzling light and deafens. The earth shudders uneasily. Trees sway violently, birds are in flight, circling. The powerful wind flattens the solid things on its way, in fury. The burning[Read More…]

This summer is unlike any other. It burns hole in the Mind and heart—and scalds the tiny veins of skin. There is death in the air and smoke hangs heavy. The dead are piled up in sheets, waiting—while the undead walk the deserted streets, benumbed; streets under curfew, joy gone out of lives. Wailings of the sirens of the ambulance[Read More…]

The pain of man wrings stories of pain from my pen I cannot write of happiness as the world weeps, weeps   on pyres and graves with smoke spiralling up the scape; as bodies in desecration lie in bags and cardboard boxes;   as democracy asserts amidst the chaos of dead bodies and unsensitised souls that have lost their conscience[Read More…]

It is not enough that you have eyes and ears You must see and listen It is not enough that you see and listen You must think also It is not enough that you think You must act also It is not enough that you act You must sustain your actions also It is not enough that you sustain your[Read More…]

Standing at 597 feet And being declared the tallest statue I felt I could feel pride and watch the beautiful things around However, find it to be only a misfortune   As I watch miles and miles away from me I can only see the suffering and pain around The pain created by those Who have only tried to build[Read More…]

If you do not have A friend from another religion Oh, how wretched ! If you do not have A person from another political thought In your friend list Oh, how wretched !   If you are not willing For a dialogue with anyone But you and with yourself If you call someone with a different opinion As Sanghi, Kongi,[Read More…]

Defaced by a virus, the Earth stands all alone. Humanity — will it survive the crackling of the coronal core? Write, write   of the masked men. Faces forgotten. Lipsticks abandoned. How long will it last? Few frightened haggard monied move towards an exodus   to Mars. Waterlogged, virus-worn stands the home, the hearth. Frightening in desolation, abandoned. But what[Read More…]

  i have sought to love you unworthy that i am   i have sat in the tall grass looking out over water watching a setting sun   and i have sought to love you unworthy that i am   i have walked poetic the meadow a red tailed hawk circled above   i have traveled the narrow quiet path[Read More…]

A bird came down to rest on a rocky perch. Turned his head this way — that way. It looks familiar, he thought. the cerulean skies the trees with foliage on tall, slim trunks the large red flowers in bloom. The river gushed white roaring its way down from its birthplace. Through rocky mountains and green hills it cascaded unstoppably.[Read More…]

India and the world has seen a lot in the recent past, and these poems from the past mirror the importance of resistance when the times are tough. The purpose behind translating these three different poets was a common underlying humanitarian theme of their work which believed in democratizing the political space. I personally feel that these three poems can[Read More…]

If we must choose between civilization and barbarity we must choose civilization. But only if the injustices and atrocities of civilization do not exceed those of barbarism.   If we must choose identity between eco and ego we must choose eco and celebrate the global planting of trees and enacting an end to forced mass extinctions.   If we must[Read More…]

“…the destruction of what you people call evil, is less just and desirable than the conversion of this evil into what you call good…”  — The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov We play with the colours of dawn, spraying the world with spring, with happiness, with birds that are willing to   sing. Liturgies lace our lives with absolutes.[Read More…]

1. 75… and still alive! Just live to give; just yearn to learn! “To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield.” But, can we be kind? Can we still build? Nourish… and flourish…. Take delight in a new insight? Recall old rhymes from childhood’s times? Can we be serious, not deleterious? Dialogue, not monologue? 2. 75 years Leak[Read More…]

The Peculiar Human Gnaw has overtaken all of life Or was it always to be so? In more Halcyon days Every hunger was checked by another Until Consumption reduced nature’s maw into a tiny red sack of paroxysmal fury The First Commandment: Feed Naked Ape Even the Sun must be brought down, ever closer For the warmth of Gaia only[Read More…]

                       “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”                       –Pablo Picasso 1. First, he mastered the masters: From his earliest sketches at his father’s knees, Through Rembrandt, Velasquez and Goya. (El Greco and Goya he loved Almost as much as his father.) They stalked his[Read More…]

A Kingly creature; now creatureless King An Empire out of breath while breathless doing Air, water, land all three commanded to remain in place and serve They wilt under the lash of gentle commerce whilst jolly plenty stumbles along in filthy blindness All living things now cringe at the gross summons of Man Yet meanwhile Gaia gathers up her furious[Read More…]

Left and Right. The witch finder’s army hunts each night. In stealth, the army seeps   prowls, creeps under floorboards. The army, hooded and masked, takes tiny ants to task   when they bite. Each bite costs the ant its Life. The witch finder’s army parades, drills.   You better take sides. If you are not Left or Right, you[Read More…]

  1 My world in your eyes Just a stirring inside me Finally we meet 2 Gentle spring breeze floats Open hand invites rest here Love blooms like a rose 3 Beginning to know There is something elusive Where are you hiding 4 Loving you is sweet Conning me is such great fun Laughing all the way Harriet Huddle grew[Read More…]

Because they couldn’t kill me before I was born they try to throw me off every cliff, into flames and push me into deranged arms Blame me for straying too near the edge Praise me to high heavens when I am defeated/broken/ dead Decorate my rotting corpse with candlelight vigils Call me their favourite warrior names for losing the fight[Read More…]

The tree, shimmering in a puddle, ripples as a bird pauses for a drink. The sun peeps from behind the grey lined with silver.   The river mirrors the sky replete with clouds and sunshine. Water drifts over a lifetime spanning your story and mine —   narratives of our Times, of an eon that sweeps the Earth, mankind’s own[Read More…]

You wave. The street splits into two The wrong turn is you An obsessed nostril sniffs out intentions Kisses are always political I want to stop and breathe out the years without you. The wind fleeing on a bird wing leaves me a feather The left is a body with an unwashed feel to it; It reeks of desire, of[Read More…]

When I met the Devil last night I told him that `God is within you’ `I have no God,’ he said `I am the Devil’, said the words From his wisdom teeth `That’s ok, bro’, I said `We have something in common But you have God within you’. `What the F*#@*%&<?’. Jumped the angry Devil in front He tried to[Read More…]

If I tell you that love is a reality, You may call me a romantic. If I tell you that love is an abstraction You may call me a confused idiot If I tell you that love is God You may call me immoral If I tell you that love is revolution You may call me an anti-communist If I[Read More…]

Why is it so difficult? To be bold and fearless In a world which is cruel and vicious To speak against injustice To seek fairness, equality and peace To be aware of the governments games and tricks To state the facts as it is. To be an accomplice of the ‘anti-nationals’ To question the government and be rational To never[Read More…]

If they are terrorists Then why do they feed us? If they are disruptors Then why do they make the world work? You might hit and insult You might tarnish and blur You might push them against a wall But before doing so Perhaps think of this- That you consume their toils That your dreams, they power That verdant life[Read More…]

First, they came for our masks! Then they came for our muzzles! But… we’d been masked for so long We all felt naked without them! We’d been muzzled for so long, We couldn’t find our voices! Naked and voiceless, we wandered in darkness. “Didn’t there used to be a sun?” someone wondered, Pointing…. “Didn’t there used to be a moon?”[Read More…]

not that i sleep and walk or walk and sleep or read and sleep or sleep and read not that my head nods when a tractor collides headlong with a police van parked beyond barbed wire not that i stand outside a tent and peep on a langar where slogans and rotis roast on a large griddle treat me as[Read More…]

Freedom —   All the while, they talk of freedom. What has freedom rendered them?   Has it given them the ability to soar? To fly? Has it given voice to their inner souls?   Has it helped them rise? Has it got rid of diseases? Has it got rid of prisons that bar the mind — of human constructs[Read More…]

In this journey through the dark tunnel Many beautiful people travelled with me Some took different lanes and disappeared Some landed up again in the same tunnel This love for a walk in darkness Kept us moving in a constant high All I know is that there is a light behind And a light in a distant front I know[Read More…]

Crossing the street A brush with death A thousand times Alive A door held A waiting elevator Stop Signs Back then front A stopped heart With sirens Beating again No papers exchanged Breath Deadly breath Turn away Thank you, Please, Sorry A set table Four chairs Three pieces The knife’s busy Romi Mahajan is an Author, Marketer, Investor, and Activist[Read More…]

India; It’s true.   I draw you with my toeless feet. My fingers fell out as I passed your skin. Drops of blood became your body. Parliament ; Taj Mahal; Charminar; Rashtrapati Bhavan Everything in your pride is my bloodstain. I cannot explain it without fingers. But a poem can do.     Dispassionately I closed my eyes. The divided[Read More…]

“A constant sacrament of praise….”             –Wallace Stevens Give praise whenever you can! Praise: Sunrise on snow-capped mountains; Sunsets on marigold fields; Every act of kindness and solicitude; Children smiling in beneficence. Praise: The hard-earned wisdom of the old; Every great artist who ever lived; The almost-great who failed to fulfill their dreams The color green; amber; bees making honey;[Read More…]

Farmers on tractors and battalions behind barbed wire shoot “nayi saal mubarak ho” at the stroke of midnight while nursing their injuries and preparing for the first battle of 2021.   Langars are aflame with the heat of the protests as women cook with men for the foot soldiers of rebellion. Makki ki roti and sarson ka saag heal tired[Read More…]

A journey is forgotten once it is made, these days the journey goes on, continuously on like seasonless serials on internet tv journeys his and his theirs, same these men who come to us in photographs as moments of their worlds, captured in reel, more than one cared to know, now it sends a chill down our spines, now real[Read More…]

Behind a screen of pastel petals That seem to make A dreamy, windchimes’ sound, She finds herself emerging in a world Where clashing cymbals echo all around, And yet… in peace, she stands her ground. Within this world of dissolutions, She holds vast secrets in her well-like eyes; Beyond the realm of disappearance, She abides; And, more than that, hides[Read More…]

I was simply down the street. The broken stones of the road whisper unspoken messages, of how many human feet have crossed the road. Of how many broken wings would have fallen off this road; Babies crying for milk people starving at the signal stories of so many people stretched before my eyes. I’m the beggar who owns the flute[Read More…]

Sweet apocalypse in the blood! Stephen-King nightmare in the brain! Mortar rounds at synapses! Invader of our personal stash! SweetSweet as Delilah’s lips!   Cooing with the voice of Mom— Bubela, Bambino, come home, come home To peaches and cream and castles of fructose, To sugared hot cocoa and honeycombed words In hives of endearments buzzing on eardrums; To plaudits[Read More…]

Oh God! End this, the young man begged, As he lay on earth covered in mud, Streaks of hot blood pouring down his form And limbs that lay battered and numb.   He knew he had done nothing wrong, He hadn’t snubbed or brought disdain. Yet they called him a “filthy sinner” As they struck his head with intense wrath.[Read More…]

Through the panic, through the fear. I felt you there, you were near. Every message, every call. Every time I hit a wall. Every time the road would bend, Every time it was the end. I heard your voice through the noise. I heard you say that I would rise. Some drove by, left me to die. Some jumped in[Read More…]

Don’t tell me You’re ‘like’ A mother to me A sister to me A daughter to me  Or compare me To a deity Like Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswathi   My heart beats Because of me Because I am my own Identity   Shailaja Rao, Core Member, Dhanak of Humanity (NGO) SIGN UP FOR COUNTERCURRENTS DAILY NEWSLETTER  

The untouchable body is touched until it can be touched no more, touched so often and in so many ways, just to purge you of fears She is powerful for she is woman, you make of her an anthem, her breasts are in mourning, her tortured cries haunt your ripped manhood’s Her sisters are bodies draped over mango trees, gargoyles[Read More…]

meditation preparing for unemployment what I would say to anyone who asks me what I say to myself thoughts on Louise Glueck’s short speech on being congratulated for receiving the Nobel Prize for her poetry she said the driver is waiting, he has to earn his living, let me go — preparing for unemployment prepares us for unemployment provided we[Read More…]

The mass migrants to Mars stood poised to take their first step. The Red Planet crimsoned further by the blood of scientists who realised the vision of a musky monied man odoured with fame, made into godhead. Out of deep freeze, led by the god who saved them, stood more monied men.   They had left a planet in turmoil.[Read More…]

Your dreams won’t die They can’t kill them They killed you They brutalized you They lied But your dreams won’t die   A people Who pride themselves On their spirituality… What spirits indeed Invade their Addled brains?   What opiate Suggests such acts? What sickness Can endure? Their bodies, their limbs Are what’s really aflame   Your dreams won’t die[Read More…]

Why we Indians are so different, Why we still follow tradition, In looking for a spouse Why is horoscope-matching so important, It is our culture, you say But it is the caste, silly   Why is love-marriage still taboo Why is honour-killing still practiced When all over the world no marriage gets ‘arranged’ It is our tradition, you say But[Read More…]

Though corona is born Though earth revived. Though nature gained it power Though families are together. Though schools are closed Though markets are shut. Though we are at home Though we are free. But I am still the same The same girl, Covering my head with a burqa or a dupatta Only able to see my curious eyes. When will I get freedom?[Read More…]

When the demolishers go scot-free And a demolition is celebrated When the inflictors are adored And the victims are hated Where violence is celebrated In the name of the majority And resistance is suppressed In the name of minority Where marginal lives are crushed And upper lives uplifted Where highs only rise further high Where lows only dip further low[Read More…]

It is a miracle, isn’t it? In a cluttered space with books, with the marijuana of remembrances, with misplaced rage, the exiled poet keeps birthing poems. Worn-torn memories reopen their scarred flesh. They bleed raw with coagulated chunks of rape, maiming, bombing in a motherland fresh with familiar faces, and recycled anguish. The heart races back in time, all those[Read More…]

I watch with my lips sealed Watch each girl burn burn the stains of Predators’ Hands till their life is done   I watch with my ears closed Watch rancid hands leap and lustfully Immolate last night’s Fun Clear the mess. The job is done.   Unemployed, porn-ridden mobiles watch, watch with closed eyes the horror, horror of a life[Read More…]

1. Crackling Aging is like a multitude of doors, closing in back alleys—sunless… (or lit by a lamppost in a film noir script). You think you see a beautiful face—gas-lit, in a secret chamber— hair with a halo around it. You think you know the name of that face…. But… you have forgotten all names. And the face smiles back[Read More…]

Ask me How I’m doing What I’m thinking about But Ask me What the future holds Where I’ll be But Ask me About the pain About the sadness But Ask me Why I’m hurting Why I can’t move But Ask me About my parents About my kids But It isn’t like The Weather The Game The Show So You Don’t[Read More…]

You change the meaning of violence To mean that your violence is non-violent And those who question your violence Are the perpetrators of the actual violence If you define your violence as non-violent And those who question your violence as violence Your non-violence has a violent nature And questioning of your violence has a non-violent nature The foundation you want[Read More…]

  Forgotten souls that weep for an Unfinished dream, for a life Half-lived that ended in an agony of twin blasted Implosions. Forgetting the past — Al Qaeda Osama the terror the horror of tumbling towers the cries that pierced the silences of death   and yet triumphing Arabian perfumes silver bricks Clear the stench of corpses, Wars for Holy[Read More…]

Opening before us A crack in the Earth So deep So deep Headphones on Chatting on the phone We walk Into the muck Insouciance Ambien-induced haze Our collective lives Under this mask The crack widens And deepens We walk Without a pause Will you save me Before I fall? Romi Mahajan is an Author, Marketer, Investor, and Activist SIGN UP[Read More…]

By Giuseppa Cochiara and Gary Steven Corseri Food for the poor, Water for plants Rain for arid land.   Everyone adds A pinch of hope To the dish of Life.   It’s a rose-tinged feeling— Nourishing, supporting.   Everyone hopes For a better day— A turnaround To something new.   Love, success, pride…. Can we imagine them Without hope?  [Read More…]

The circle of eternal flow Through scented breeze and reminiscing nights Through a thousand nascent dawns and seagulls’ ocean-defeating flights The spirit’s eternal race to new shells of myriad experience The endless dance of blending love, lust and and tears pay obeisance To the stillness in endless motion The supreme truth of life divine. The slice of blue spheres In[Read More…]

  Why does Hate extend her reign? Why do divides raise ugly sides? When will mankind unite?   Casteist fervour, abhorrence and race   Manmade borders that breaches create, tolerance break, love annihilate, rancours breed   Marginalised, classified — we still remain broken, fragmented with spite   When can love colour all our kind?   There is no North, no[Read More…]

Kente cloth adorns his body, Complete with a youthful grin. His soul is at its peak of joy, with Pride in his ebony skin. The sudden boom of an approaching gun Startles him in his wake. Whisked away by pale ghostly spirits He must obey, for his life is at stake. He is taken at gunpoint to a colossal ship[Read More…]

A masquerade of ugly traits Chasing citizens of ordinary values, A parade of dirty linens Messing up the environment, Heaps of confusion Troubling the land. Politics, the pillar of karma Canonizing, canalizing, cabalistic too Beams of fetish columns Streams of radiation Rays of fraudulent hopes. Politics, dirty, stinking, inhumane Bearing stamps of hardship Bits and bits of flesh Pounding bones[Read More…]

Masked at the face of evil Turning blind eye to reality, Clapping for killers And feeding murderers, Everyone is politically correct. Political leaders appoint touts and thugs Religious leaders ordain Judas, Cultural leaders erase history Social leaders act nude and promiscuous, Traditional leaders title vagabonds Educational leaders burn certificates, Because they want to be politically correct. Judas kissed Jesus Jesus[Read More…]

once i used to be complete one whole there were no parts of me but now i am mincemeat you have done this to me since millennia you are ripping me apart pulling me to shreds scratching my body with lines and cutting me into bits bits you proudly call your own but, strangely each time after you cut out[Read More…]

  We saw you coming, with dreamy eyes A resurrected year, born from the ashes Of sufferings of the past years, rechristened in The divinity of a newborn body, But then, 2020, you ushered in our lives With the fury and madness of demolition. With the rapacious monster of a virus, a deadly battle consuming our fragile flesh.   Held[Read More…]

Am I white, black, purple or pink?   Names given by mankind to diverse reflections of light   Names given to create borders between colours   Colours earlier that rainbow spelt Now lead only to bloodshed, violence, gore, hatred.   Where is the love that Lalon sang?   Where is the note that played on the flute harmonising black with[Read More…]

(Author’s Note: Here’s a poem about US—and much of the world’s–politics in this “modern age,” in which the emphasis of our “hidden persuaders” (and, often, blatant manipulators) is not so much on what we think as on how we think—i.e., shallow thinking.  Those who dare to chart their own course, probe deeply, think for themselves,draw their own conclusions, are too[Read More…]

This plague, an obscure and largely-forgotten Camus spoke to me about another plague, in a Mumbai apartment. I was taken aback. Two plagues and venues varied collide in a single instant and frame, but retain their individual flavours and contours and a common dread and stench felt universally by the master race, made vulnerable, again, by a tiny virus, of[Read More…]

This poem was originally written on request and publicly recited by then Seattle Mayor, Norm Rice (a Black American) for the reopening of Key Arena and the Founders’ Fountain at the Seattle Center on 28 October 1995.  At that time, what the poem expresses was an aspiration shared by the Mayor and me.  Norm Rice did not make a speech[Read More…]

[Inspired by renowned artist of Bengal Benimadhab’s artwork of Kali (woodcut litho print) which I received as a gift during the book launch of our anthology ‘Muffled Moans Unleashed’, done in collaboration with Green Tara Social Initiative, Kolkata, India.] The Kali in my being, a calcified truth of light overpowered by savage darkness. The Kali in my soul, a perpetual[Read More…]

Each war Each boundary dispute Multiplies human culture By zero It proclaims the helplessness Of literature and spiritual thoughts It answers the question why Buddhists like Lao Tzu Have forsaken the human world And withdrawn into icy silence There is no right or wrong side in War   There is no war like one for justice Since war is the[Read More…]

  On the edge of annihilation, a tiny virus rimmed by an aging sun draws on the sap of bread earned by man   The conquistador of Nature, the hunter, the seeker — all have stopped The seller sadly winds his words in a lonely home   Television sets blare old shows Man depressed into unrest slowly crawls towards the rim[Read More…]

At my teens from Sunday church I wandered in old small town looking birds listening old band near traditional coffin workshop where many variety coffins stacked When grown up as a student Study of funerals were my interest as it was rituals and traditions show the drama of true life on earth our real live theater Witnessed looked heard read[Read More…]

  ( Jaater Naame Bajjati Shob ) Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899-1976)   Translation © Monish R Chatterjee 2020 The caste hooligans have long been at play Caste fraudsters gambling with human life – So touching a fellow human makes you an outcaste Is your caste, then, fragile as candy in a child’s hand? Caste hooligans playing roulette.   Hookah water[Read More…]

(The title alludes to the photo by W. Eugene and Aileen Smith, in which a mother bathes her crippled, twelve-year-old daughter….  A hundred people died and nearly a thousand were crippled as a result of mercury poisoning in Minamata, Japan.)   “Daughter, my daughter, I will hold you with my strong arms and let the warmth of the water enter[Read More…]

Sometimes,   One needs to get away from the torrid darkness of words. A darkness that annihilates. Swirling, twirling a blackness laced with blood, anger, hate   Marginalised   —   Sometimes from a brutal knee Sometimes a mob or a bloody bullet kiss —   Violent Death   Drops in the ocean connect all lands called continents   Mourning Mothers’[Read More…]

What is it that you are staring at me for? With those eyes of yours that are like blank gaping holes Any sign of life, I have sucked out from those eyes long ago By naming you, shaming you, calling you a parasite, till my voice turned hoarse   I was rejoicing in the cover of protectiveness that your ‘parasitic’[Read More…]

One They named him Corona, it is not uncommon for babies to be named after special events, or characters in history. But that is not the point. Two One assumes giving birth is essential to the continuity of life, but birthing On footpaths? At roadsides? Under flyovers? How else does one define apocalypse? Three These women, many, too many in indignity.[Read More…]

1. “Girasole,” Italians say, accent on soul, “g” as in gyro, the last syllable, lay–a medieval song. In my uncle’s garden there were many (heads taller than I, taller even than the tomato plants he trained to staves heading towards trellises of overhead vines from which he squeezed–sweet!– grapes’ wine-dark blood). But these were different— golden, star-petaled…serene; yet…eerie how they[Read More…]

Feet of God is revered flowers offered at feet. Elders’ feet touched for paying respect. Saintly person’s feet are cleansed. Entered home with feet washed. Gurus’ feet smeared with herbal oils. Apologies offered at master’s feet. Blessings seeked at parents feet. Stand on your own feet often it is said so. On feet, clans moved nations to nations. Pilgrims gone[Read More…]

  1. If I come back to earth as a movie star, I want to be that guy nobody knows. You know who I mean, don’t you? As a young man, he gets slapped around by Bogie in The Maltese Falcon. He’s Sidney Longstreet’s punk and foil. He’s got a pug nose and he makes you want to rub…him… out![Read More…]

Was Man made for Money? Was Money made for Man? On which side lies the land What is the truth? Did Man for Money walk straight — From Ape to Homo Habilis 2.8 million years ago? Where was the Money, the Economy? And then came Homo Sapiens — smart, intellectual, established Money, Capitalism, Communism, Socialism, all the isms that divide[Read More…]

Migrant workers walking home , walking … For many a kilometer No water No food No shelter No time to brood On past or future …. Economy staggering Industrial output declining Manufacture of products stopped Tools are lying untouched … Where are the workers? The ‘ real’ economic torch bearers ? Pregnant woman delivers on road  (1) And walks with[Read More…]

A thread in our lives That never unravels Pinching at the seam Of our civilization As an unhealed cut Bleeds, even in dribbles Pains us until We learn to ignore We can watch And not see We can see But not register Each one matters Loved ones shattered Potential lost Over before the bell A flame Might flicker A flame[Read More…]

I do not find it profitable to talk to the dead! They are so single-minded! They repeat old stories over and over Until one feels like screaming: “PLEASE MOVE ON!” The dead are ventriloquists. As soon as you think they’re silent, A living soul takes up their mantle, Suddenly nudging you: “Did you hear the one about…?” (And…you’ve heard it[Read More…]

Salim Bhai please Get out of the house It is burning Please get out It is but one room I cannot leave It is my house After all Salim Bhai please Get out of the house It is burning Please get out It is but two rooms I cannot leave It is my neighborhood After all Salim Bhai please Get[Read More…]

The mute boy as slender as a willow sapling looks at the world with eyes big and bright by light intake and color.   He does not look at the world as others look.  He looks in his own way   His world is a world of maenad laughter.  His world is a world of confusion; a world he can[Read More…]

Between my stomach and your hands You choose to select your hands And leave my stomach aside By prioritising your scarcity over my scarcity When my stomach cries for food You choose to convert my food into your sanitiser And convince me that this is what I need it at this point of time And not something which I really[Read More…]

Years ago You imposed lockdown On our actions Aspirations Choices Voices…. You imposed lockdown On our thoughts Our minds Our movements Our expressions …. We were ‘socially’ distanced Discriminated Oppressed Repressed…. Now you are promoting ‘social’ distancing Instead of explaining ‘physical’ distancing Paving way to convince people of tradition Glorifying caste system and its logical coronation …. Your lockdown of[Read More…]

May we be receptive to the wisdom of nature and the knowledge that if her laws are obeyed, our lands and people will flourish May we save the planet from present practices of destruction and allow the raw wounds of the earth to heal May we bring back the natural harmony of nature and restore to our souls the richness[Read More…]

I float down the river. It can be any river imagined. Yet it is here despite a vision Devised to make it real. It stretches back in time To the Big Bang And into a nearly imaginable future Until the Earth is swallowed By a dying expanding sun That swallows our planet fully as it is engulfed. Such ponderous thoughts[Read More…]

God bless the cherry-pickers! They swarm upon the ground— picking, picking, picking what’s unerringly found. They love low-hanging branches where picking’s easily done. They abhor a wealth of chances. “Tough nuts” they always shun! They tell you what you’ve heard a hundred thousand times. They claim the final word is easy—and it rhymes! They know the way to Timbuktu. They[Read More…]

The transparent people cannot be seen Is that true? The transparent people have no emotions Is that true? In a field, on a bus Walking down the road Singing, in pain The sun is no friend Nor is the rain The transparent people float Smiling in pictures No flowers at home The transparent people From towns on a map Forever[Read More…]

Stay Safe. Stay Home.   The birds flew home. They had nests.   Stay Safe. Stay Home.   But, men? Did all men have a place to stay? A place they could rest? A place that housed their beds?   “1.6 billion worldwide lack adequate housing”.   Stay Safe. Stay Home.   A place that shelters them from Death by[Read More…]

I must go where my conscience takes me not where I am supposed to go. I must do what my conscience dictates, in fact demands. I cannot succumb. I have made mistakes and I’ll repent forever, not in some magical way but in a very practical way. I will learn to want less and thus to have more freedom for[Read More…]

Allow us to go home At a time when we are stuck in your cities Neither continuing here for earning livelihood by staying Nor getting a privilege to practice your set norms With economic activities coming to a halt And stoppage of all the work and no means to earn We are least motivated to stay back And want to[Read More…]

Dear Dad, I am glad you did not live to see these.   You died.   Died before you saw them collapse by the roadside.   Gandhi called them his friend. And so did you.   Why did God not have mercy on them?   Why is it they have no food? No water, no shoes? Why is it they[Read More…]

We the abandoned people of this world Out there walking miles to our villages With none in your cities to protect us During these times of lockdown   We built your houses We constructed your offices We built your shopping malls We produced in your factories   We built your cities from the scratch We served your needs in your[Read More…]

The small bird who has just learnt to fly Flapping her wings with joy and confidence Moving across the wind in the sky With the earth and her people under her feet The little bird who flies in the sky Does not feel that she owns the sky.   The young fish who has just come out of the egg[Read More…]

From the womb of the Earth, She rose —   Fiery, like the volcanic core, unfolding each limb. soaring, phoenix like, from the ash left behind   out of the gore the rotting Core of the Death Sun.   Cremation smoke.   From the womb of the Earth She rose —   Death crept. Silenced factory smoke.   She strode[Read More…]

The world was calm now. And silent. Only the birds chirped tweeted sang cawed. Only the animals barked mewed mooed growled. Only the river gurgled. Only the sky thundered. Only the fires crackled.   Two covid-19 teenage viuses walked around the city assessing the damage. On Route vers l’ouest, they found mansions with cars parked in front and little gardens.[Read More…]

For this country of our fathers and forefathers who laid down their lives to unshackle it and rebuilt it with their sweat and blood India of their hopes and dreams the land we kiss, whose dust adorns our foreheads We fight for the Constitution collective conscience of wise men and women who wanted to ensure that each one of us[Read More…]

a muslim with his eyes blinded was recognized by the direction his face lay turned towards the qibla1 bloodstains whispering war on his cheeks like line breaks of a romantic ballad poem his last prayer very carefully spoken as he was heaving, breathing being dragged from the arms of his kohl-eyed lover, before they made her a corpse, her unarmed[Read More…]

Any narrative of Delhi Riots ’20 just communal is dangerous for all but some are keen to say so ever The jackals after sheep herd people of riot hit zones committed helping each other to survive at their best and many did great they were all good samaritans Then why are some so keen to call it fight of communities[Read More…]

  Marginalised? Who said we are marginalised? We are humans walking side by side.   Women, Men and Children Dalits, Tribals and the Abused —   Who said we are different?   Who said that Woman is born of Man’s rib? Who said caste is by God writ?   Who said women cannot enter temples or mosques? Who said Menstruation[Read More…]

Beneath a pile of charred rubble sodden with splattered blood hanging on precariously to the half rotten dead in the drain killed in the name of God now a bait of murderous mob for the unsuspecting who come looking for their own I am Delhi ravaged by my kith, shamed by my kin I bewail my destiny marked with massacre[Read More…]

It is five o clock in mid spring.. And the hymns of Azaan comes into my ears, Where do the God’s Abode,I don’t know, Neither it is my wish to know about .. I walk by my own, towards the clock tower , Drizzles wet me, still I wish to get a cool shower.. It seemed I had been locked[Read More…]

I have seen the world recede behind the trees; the world that was for you and me — a vibrant blue world, dotted with green, swirls of ocean and breeze painted by Van Gogh — A Starry Night, and then came a tsunami that wiped it all from site.   A fakir overnight, as Lalan, I sing afloat in space[Read More…]

He’s not my leader the one who is too busy for the people who are dying on the streets, he’s just a bad fox who eats on the dead and lurks in dark to escape to his friends who are murderers! You, yes you! I am fed up of you how you lie, how you kill and then groan in[Read More…]

Shaheen Bagh is untouched by the winter chill there is a fire burning within! Shaheen Bagh replies speeding bullets with flowers ‘why don’t we love each other?’ Shaheen Bagh is singing ‘ we will see… We will see that promised day’ Shaheen Bagh Is reading out a piece of paper, their inheritance- ‘Justice Freedom! Equality!’ Shaheen Bagh is singing a[Read More…]

Far away,secluded in an utter isolation, She used to count the yellow lights, being numbed, Sometimes, few of her owns came to visit her, but they never lookedback whie leaving, Again,an utter silence left behind,devoured her existence in quite dark…! Broken soul,weird thoughts,no way to be released,she wanted still to live a life, Every morning,with some needles and nerves,she painfully[Read More…]

I watch my brothers crying, begging to the nation for justice, The same pain,some sane voices to rebel against their bloody wounds, It’s the Freedom,who is chained in rules..!! Free birds got locked in a vicious cage, They’re afraid ,they tremble in the souns of bullet, A silencer is put towards their home, It’s the Freedom,which is chained in rules..!![Read More…]

You call me by your own names Pakistan, Bangladesh, Tukde Tukde gang or Terrorists You push us to the walls Or kick us with all the trolls You shoot us Or abuse us   We declare, We are just a simple Shaheen bagh We are no big people But just pure simple folks of this country Who never understand your[Read More…]

Someday,sometimes,if I was remembered by you, Do come alone,with bare limbs, as I dwell in the utmost bliss.. Not the woman I’m ,whom you used to know pretty before.. She was an innocent pie,did keep faith on the lie,some col blooded lie! Here struggles a warrior,you’ll find her war marks on her body, Ruthless,desperate,leaving all her priorities to uphold her[Read More…]

Like a torn string,,like a wingless seagull, I’m done..and its all over!! All my slogans,all my comrades, I bid you farewell,as my time is up.. I’ve seen brutal faces with fake adore ,covered in them, Where each eye is upon me, And my lone soul walk along.. Over the thorns, leaving my bloody steps behind.. I bid you fsrewell, my[Read More…]

The script is being written For those belonging to the `other’ faith For women, Dalits, and the margins and For the under-nourished colours Trying to cover their bodies and minds From the gazes of penetrating shame The script is being written In bolder and bolder letters.   The script is being written When the gutters swallow the Constitution For the[Read More…]

Vaults will be broken to take out all our belongings you took away from us like nothing to make one happy palace with a big bed of our dreams, on our hope you light a bonfire! Your home shall burn for the sins you committed by taking our belief to be in power, and then nailing one fabulous manifesto filled[Read More…]

I carry some wounds and hurt with my self indeed! Not a mere woman I’m,you must know me, Rather a warrior mother,who fought a unique battle…without any weapons in her hands, Nor I am like Goddess Durga,who decorated herself with so many arms! The battle I faced and fought lone indeed, For they didn’t recognise me to my child, Another[Read More…]

I’ve been locked for thousand days, threatened by your guns,and you think you banished me in front of my children.. I born with an oath,not to be defeated ,you don’t know, In a dark corner of tge green hills,I write your Last Supper.. In that corner,I raise a fire,that reached all through my children, They keep the fire in their[Read More…]

  If there is peace- where does it live? how does it look? when to look for it?   Is it in the lathis of police or the iron rods of the bajrang goons?   Is it in being mob lynched for carrying a surname in a plastic bag?   Is it in the dead bodies of ganeshguri  blast whose[Read More…]

Look, pal, You are the resurrection day of a nation and I am the remembrance day of the Father of the same nation. In a way we are closely related too being neighbours divided by just four days. Yet, I am sad to say that there is truly nothing common in between us.   I am a minute’s silent prayer.[Read More…]

I have dents and bumps On my shanks from soccer. My shins are covered With them and I marvel At their feel that took place When I was a teen And there were no shin guards. My son-in-law is More. He was a professional soccer player, A doctoral physicist and a MD. He is so much younger than me So[Read More…]

Luminous messages silently comes every dark nights, Every night bleeds there,I hear the noises of marching boots… Down the narrow lanes and paths, My mother is crying in chains… Not for a single moment Bhagat’s mother winked her eyes.. She remained calm as she would be a brave martyr’s mother… My mother is weeping, she is chained by them.. They[Read More…]

How many days people keep silence how many days keep them in prisons How many batons and bullets in store to keep a nation scared now and forever Listen to the cries it is not for mercy but for the rights granted by nation Look at these people who are gathered all under skies meek, weak and tired Still they[Read More…]

The flowers blossom in the gardens of Shaheen Bagh Lifting the spirits and releasing a fresh aroma The air filled with the spirit of the republic Bringing freshness in an environment filled with poison Attracting pilgrims to this temple called Indian republic Where devotees hold the sacred text called the constitution And read out the prayer from the preamble Perform[Read More…]

Hail you ruler! In my country,in my land, Alms were distributed to us as beggars received, Food,clothes,livelihood and the most desired freedom, You rewarded us with very little on which we may just survive, Here mosques full of dust and nobody enters in namaz, our land was a tulip bed, you deliberately turned into debris!! The whole planet watching us,[Read More…]

The afternoon sun began waning over the dove-white shrine, Alone stood there the shrine,almost in the solemnity, Chirping sounds of birds coming from distant willows, Where not a single shadow guarded the wintry ray of sunshine, The shrine remarked the sign of the deep Love, And wounded several times by the bullets and guns, Everytime blood spilled masive from the[Read More…]

They choose me to bleed, They hurt me to bury my soul, “Don’t shout, don’t oppose, or you gotta be finished”…they shouted out, They frightened me and locked me behind the rails, “Fight Dude Fight!” My comates inspired me! They stabbed my back, with the edge of their weapons, They bullied me to kill my rage, Even they tortured me[Read More…]

biscuit a pellet hit her small palm that clutched a half eaten biscuit. she broke into a rasping wail “bikoot mama bikoot” the biscuit fell to the ground near her, near her mamma. mamma a pellet hit her left breast that smelt of milk. a fount of blood spurted all over her baby and soaked a biscuit on the ground.[Read More…]

I am your voice but I will not say a word. I am politically numb. I fear that we may be entering an age of authoritarian populism and one day it will munch us all. We seek rainbow but we often get clouds of tear gas and a hail of bullets. My friend, that day is not far away when[Read More…]

There were no lines that drew you from me I had no flag, no anthem, no lines that said you stood outside I had nothing, only the world which housed many worlds Where you and I were one; Till the day they drew barbed wires between you and me And shoved me into a sky like a square grey patch[Read More…]

It is a system not a sudden gathering or attack, it doesn’t have a group it has a body planning to speed up chaos, attack wasn’t just about fifty men in masks it was about the doors they found open so easily! It is a crime yet it is done with no fear, happy are they to masturbate out every[Read More…]

We see And yet we will see —   The war clouds turn the sky aflame The razing ground do much the same   Neanderthals died of unknown cause Homosapiens crossed a borderless world.   Civilisation spread Nuclear Armament   Bloodied wars   Unhouse the ones who read Shroud them Beat them till they bleed   Only one can lead[Read More…]

A beauiful actress with a fan club for her looks Looked at the mirror when she was old and said: `I am not this one and where did I go?’ A tough man with muscles all around him Asked his son by the end of the game `Who took my muscles away and why?’   An intellectual who controlled the[Read More…]

inspired by & freely adapted from a poem by the French poet Paul Eluard   On every door at every gate in every doorway on all the windows, mirrors of all the world   I write your name.   On every road with every step in the wide meander and the sand on the straight and narrow and around each[Read More…]

As a gust of wind sends the curtains flapping wildly, I wonder about our future. The future is signaling us to go back. The future is telling us to stop where we are now. But we pretend not to hear. And we don’t care. We’re not aware of what we’ve lost and are seeking things we don’t need at all.[Read More…]

When you feel your generation is being crushed by the twin excavators of the political imbecility and haphazard bureaucracy. When you realize that the government is insensitive to the peoples wishes and is making mockery of their destiny. When your see the naked dance of corruption dismantling the very base of our society. When you see unemployment dancing everywhere and[Read More…]

 It is not some chicken that rests on those breasts they feed your next generation pluck them out and you’ll see death all around, you do think to pluck those every night in a small corner of your bed you might be a father, brother, husband or just some man who is desperate to drive fast!   The bra your[Read More…]

A poem on Arundhati Roy Fountain pen unfurling from the curls After the blood carpet why history never unfurls Everyone makes a full stop with decoration To declare how it’s “The End of Imagination” Millions think of the magician thinking above Her pen thinks how he bluffs wearing a glove Curating the structured Homo sapiens To validate that they work[Read More…]

Do these women have rights? These women who break rocks These women who carry bricks These women who in Temples please Gods What Gods? Devdasis? Can they Me Too? Farmers’ wives, sweepers, Women who clean dirt From homes and yet Live in dirt themselves. Women who could not go to school Can they Me Too? Women who remain Unlettered, Unfed,[Read More…]

Exile, Or, Home? They asked, Which home? The one you bulldozed, Or the one you occupied, They are furious, And, Outraged, Or, the one that is a rubble, They look They scare, stay there, Hands up, How can I stay without name Without face Or without eyes. Leave then, Go in exile They laugh Or smirk, How can I go[Read More…]

J.N.U a university where voices speak up where streets protest where classes struggle where birds are still free where azaadi isn’t just a word where democracy lives Sutputra Radheye: He is a young Indian poet for whom poetry is a medium of protest against the authority. He channelizes his words to write what he sees, and how he sees.He doesn’t[Read More…]

I had heard of people in abusive relationships— Of torture made to disappear, Of tyrannies of the mind calculated to blind and crippling dependence cultivated, Of phantom foes and spectral fears and hollow promises renewed, Of shrunken lives under constant vigil terrorised into compliance, Of gaslit rebellion and curfewed movement, isolated from the world’s concern; I marvelled at how all[Read More…]

For the new generations You and bride, side-by-side At new son’s cradle side, First son at grandpa’s side, Daughter at grandma’s side, All at full tableside— Fortunate family! Springtime ride, riverside. Summer swim, oceanside. Autumn hike, mountainside. Winter song, fireside. Countryside, cityside, Sweet life of bourgeoisie! But there’s another side— Rat-race-cide, ed-debt-cide, Rush-hour- cide, autocide, Boob-tube-cide, junk-food-cide, Beer-gut-cide, pharma-cide— All[Read More…]

Oh house of Gods! Oh house of Gods! Temples or Mosques Churches or Synagogues Displaced they stand— A black stone Rectangle or phallic Does it matter? In streams refugees pour out Bloodshed, Gore Hatred and More More and More Ring- a- round the roses Pocketful of doses You think when they Burnt, Singed, they would have learnt Flames should be[Read More…]

They tell me it is your country, but prove your love to keep the peace, gift the land to us to please, and obey the majority or cease. They tell me it is your country but as long as I don’t affirm my belief, remain silent when in grief, and mourn my history in silence. They tell me it is[Read More…]

I heard In real or in a dream? Home is white… Or red? Tulip tree is buried…. In ice, Or in debris? Kangri is in shed. Or dead in the cold? My pheran… The one with red dots on chest…. Is like a scarecrow on tilted pole, Or cut into shreds? Who tells me?????? My umbilical cord…… Is missing……………… In[Read More…]

My spine is bent, Sir You can see the bones jutting out; My hands I have stretched, To touch your feet My index finger on your right toe: Can’t you see, Yes? Thank you! (glee) I beg your pardon? Yes, I made sure I burnt all the books before we met And my pen is now the river My brain[Read More…]

Children in unison rise Crying for the ultimate reprise. Bus fares hike Water jets strike Murderers walk free The land is no longer safe Asperger bound The world round Children protest In anger and unrest Where do they stand? Why have they become the voice of The angry clans? Why is it they scream In angst against the regime? Why[Read More…]

What hides underneath all those layers? The layers you got padded with since birth? The layers you did not get to choose But accept without questioning The unwarranted layers You feel comforted in The layers You think Define you Your identity Your being Your existence Peel away the layers My friend Peel Layer After layer Until You emerge To yourself[Read More…]

(This is a fictional scene with no direct or indirect relation with persons living or dead. Any name or scene is utterly co-incidental. The purpose of this poem is to reflect a segment of the society.) So, the sheep-head citizens- You’re here today. Welcome. Have a seat- Like you’ve for decades now. Make yourself comfortable. I know. I know. Nothing[Read More…]

The hangman brought the noose Near an erect neck of a prisoner I must apologise to you,’ whispered the hangmanI am only doing a job for the survival of my family.’ `Execution has been my family occupation for generations The reason is unknown to me Why I should kill and who I should kill. You are only a subject in[Read More…]

dappled bloody sheet and nineteen lakh bodies floating to the asphalt shores of Brahmaputra- naked and filled. Birds flying away, leaves falling cold sun setting low, moon bent till toe homes painted grey, heart- dead fay indians-moments ago, now far away.   how shall one be in solitude in war? how shall one be happy in sorrow? if hunger seeks[Read More…]

Oh, how weeps Mother Earth! Near her toes, the forests burn. Animals in death throes churn. Sumatran anacondas die. Smoke blinds the eye. Hazy skies, poison air People choke. Life comes to a halt. Brazil, her lungs they say, Now fiery flames breathe. With so much smoke, Will Mother Earth choke? Oh, how weeps Mother Earth! Young blood is spilt[Read More…]

Night steals upon us like death… In the morning it leaves one or two cups of coffee untouched on the table! An eerie silence swallows me it howls into my ears. My trembling legs search up and down the lane the sound of boots answer me! At a distance I hear crowds, shouts, Gunshots and wails. You call it calm![Read More…]

episode 1: a regiment of old people, more bones than flesh, are thrown into an army truck. to be unloaded in the woods near some godforsaken border. but, a fierce debate breaks out whether they should be blinded or not. orders are awaited from the capital city. episode 2: a burst of pellets perforate a sieve on a snow girl’s[Read More…]

For cars, baubles, and beef We pledged our untrammeled allegiance For cars, baubles, and beef We declared an insidious war We held our flag up high We demanded full compliance For cars, baubles, and beef We punished all dissenters Here we are today Apocalypse here and now For cars, baubles, and beef We sacrificed our smiling children Progress is hard[Read More…]

A rain of blood fell from the sky on a valley A sixteen year old boy cried in pain when his eyes were hit with pellet bullets `But why?’ He asked the soldier who shot him `You sold our country to another country’ `To which country?’ the boy asked with tears of blood `To Pakistan,’ said the soldier confidently `And[Read More…]

Dead people are free human beings For freedom is a term meant for the living The living dead walking as corpses on streets Or on their best luxurious vehicles Are also are free human beings in their own minds For they do not know that their freedom is determined by others. To that extent, freedom is a mental construct Whether[Read More…]

With those thousands and millions of pieces you have been broken into How long can you keep on fixing them to get through one more day? And with a cracked heart and crushed soul How long till u count yourself among the living fray? With this unthinking unfeeling existence of yours How long till u tire and call it a[Read More…]

Tsunami of aggressive nationalism Across USA, Europe and beyond Internationalism is my creed; patriotism acceptable But not the sedition law   My ancestors born in Pakistan Part of undivided India Communal partitioning in 1947 Affected lives   My mother born in 1921 At Suri Mohalla, Rawalpindi Completed her studies At middle school, Rawalpindi   At school she learnt needle work[Read More…]

I do not wish the sun to rise And I do not wish the moon to disappear The carpenter who made this bed Has done more than he could dream for Saving me from the nightmare of getting up To see what I do not wish to see And to hear what I do not wish to hear If ever[Read More…]

Sometimes I do not like meeting people Whenever I do not like meeting myself Meaningless actions and meaningless words Among the multitude of meaningless people Make me feel the need to enjoy the absurdity To understand that a word in need Is just a word indeed. And when the heaven fell on earth I thought it was a dead flower[Read More…]

On the night of broken glass he reads a poem by Faiz. Outside, someone drives under influence down a frail bridge across the river, after the rains. jo toot gaya, so toot gaya ‘Khuda Hafiz. Khuda Hafiz, Would there be salvage after the wreck?’ asks the squeaky wiper blades to the tune of filmy rain dance that fogs the pane.[Read More…]

 A ghazal for all Kashmiris and In Memoriam Agha Shahid Ali     Soldiers have died in vain and will again. Lovers have kissed in rain and will again.   Neighbors dispute, tragically lose all calm. Nations have split in twain and will again.   Beauty gives power to hurt or heal with balm. Passion brings exquisite pain and will[Read More…]

Dear oh dear Ilhan We see you in our sleep We see you when awake We hear you in all of our being There is nothing like a voice That wavers never at all There is nothing like the strength Of dignity withal Please don’t ever tire Your energies should never wane Stay vigilant dear Ilhan You bless us with[Read More…]

Celebrate, Celebrate the Independence Day While Munch-like screams explode Like fireworks lighting the night sky Silent, vociferous, full of angst Unable to speak Bleak, bleak, bleak. Oh, the cruelty of life! The anger and strife Guernica revisited each time. This is not just about soldiers who die. But about all those who silently cry For a dozen different whys? A[Read More…]

I cannot speak anymore the language of my oppressors. My memory gradually corroded by a billion ants folds into itself. I cannot think anymore, my eyes are vacant, perpetually wandering. I’m defenceless as ever, I put my papers in place and patiently await my turn at the guillotine for them to press the button, for them to cut off my[Read More…]

After Dorianne Laux’s “Kissing” They are kissing at gunpoint. They know they cannot be caught kissing. They are kissing as though the chinars never saw any bloodshed, only lipstick. Asifa is grown up now, she’s kissing her love and her horses are dancing the grass is erupting in joy, the valley is rushing in its unviolated grace because they are[Read More…]

A black father is gone A black husband is gone A black friend is gone A black human is gone He couldn’t breathe He said as much They cared enough To kill him Unsafe Even in your own skin Dead Leaving your kin Remorse is absent Like after stepping on an ant Go, go home Be with your loved ones[Read More…]

Yes, as we speak horrid things are happening Right under our very gaze Yes, as we speak brutality is sport And the children suffer as they have before Is the noise of violence that which defines us? Or is it the silence that lets the noise grow? Is there really a tale of Love in this mess? Or is the[Read More…]

Today we will name The Day of Peace. And when tomorrow becomes today The Day of Social Justice.   When the weekend rolls around first will be The Day of the Council of All Beings followed by The Day of Love our Neighbors along with The Love of Strangers.   To start the new week Day of Earth First. Then[Read More…]

The love that you gave me Was more than what I could handle For I do not know How to return your love So, I placed your love in a fixed deposit And I do not dare to open the deposit In the bank of love where I did not belong. The hatred that you showered on me Could ignite[Read More…]

“Obey me or die!” the orange-haired man threatens the world. “My drones know you’re home, and my missiles don’t miss. I’m Commander in Chief, CinC for short. I’ll sink you into the sea, fry you crisp, burn you to dust with the push of a button. I’ll overthrow your governments, strangle your economies, jail your refugees. I’m the trumpet of[Read More…]

your wings are clipped woman you soaring bird have been dashed to the ground no price will save your person compromise compromise compromise the only panacea for lulled harmony debasement self-effacement take the cue woman your only chance your days numbered your time monitored you don’t even know if you can come or go at the end of it all[Read More…]

A day without hatred or fear a day without prejudice, suspicion or persecution a day without being lied to being swindled or mislead a day without bullying, without abuse, violation violence or murderous terror without the trauma of affliction without humiliation and without a loss of love. A day so natural that the sun rises in the east over the[Read More…]

A psychological disorder is ruling us Which looks at others as disorders Orderly men hung themselves Others were ordered to be relieved From their existence with empty promises. The images of the order surround us In petrol stations, bus stands and railway stations On the streets, on newspapers and television sets His voice blasts on our ears With promises unwilling[Read More…]

A journey through the hills, waters, fields, cities and towns A journey through the pains, sufferings, anger and anguish A journey through laughter, joy, intimacy, bonding and hatred A journey through the wilderness of thoughts and actions A journey through images, words, music and colours This train of life is beautiful to remember. The passengers come and go Some look[Read More…]

You’ve blessed so many, Henry, whom you do not know, Together with your family and every friend. We won’t forget you, even when it’s time to go. In loving memories, good lives don’t ever end. You’ve lived well, Henry, without benefit of fame— The fate of most on turbulent, huge, teeming Earth; But human worth is far more than a[Read More…]

We the Tukde Tukde gang Mentored by RSS Pracharaks And educated by Whaatsapp University and Fake news Media Do resolve to polarize the Society We specialize in accusing others Of breaking the country In the name of Tukde Tukde gang Without stating that we are the ones who do it We break the country In the name of Hindu-Muslim, Mandir-Masjid,[Read More…]

When the womb opens And bleeds again Irregular, untimely This cleansing, purging Innards Rumbling, pouring Not an end To a natural cycle Can you know? What your tantrums Torture and turns does Fear churns out Its own poison And blood gushes out To release the tension It’s a considerate moment When, for a second You are shaken So you say[Read More…]

You were called Sophisticated Yes The chic clothes Were your props The perfume Your halo You carried yourself Well But then There were so many aids Stripped of them You panicked The person in you Had had Too many crutches The two feet The mind Were not enough You ran for cover Preeti Tej Singh has written two books of[Read More…]

With empty stomachs and tattered clothes With lifeless eyes devoid of all hopes With dreams not daring to knock at your hearts Is hatred the lifeline you are really looking for? When the ‘accident of your birth’ decides your fate And even for that the fault is laid down at your gate When people look at you but do-not acknowledge[Read More…]

Your God looks Suffocated In his wooden frame Your God Gasps For air In his prison He looks crushed Beneath your Flowers, incense and offerings You are cruel To his ears With your Relentless chants Recitations and hymns Leave him alone Let him out He needs to breathe To live Preeti Tej Singh has written two books of poetry. The[Read More…]

You built walls The domestic ones And found everything within Your world, your life Your purpose within The family was precious Yours that is What lay beyond Did not matter The empty bowls The festering wounds The blown limbs The body bags Was not seen The ghettos The tear stains unnoticed The million faces The million bruises Were only sights[Read More…]

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha[Read More…]

Your breasts Attract no attention Poor woman They are All dried up and loose Black and filthy You yawn You scratch The miserable wretch Tugs at it No milk in it mother He says The men look With disdain And the women Walk past with indifference You wonder Are these breasts only Or you too dead Preeti Tej Singh has[Read More…]

Ideas enlarge They blow out Of the illusive lens The brain is But a locked trove You are A blurred picture In the scope of my vision And my losing sight Has frozen in time You are no longer Caught Between flutter of eyelids There is only A scratched negative It’s a developmental failure It won’t Turn positive Preeti Tej[Read More…]

Keshta, old manservant of mine (Puratan Bhritya) Rabindranath Tagore- a narrative poem Translated by ©Monish R. Chatterjee (2019) Goblinesque of appearance, he was a fool beyond measure Anything went missing, screamed the mistress, “Keshta stole our treasure.” From dawn till dusk, I swore on his father’s name- barely any heed he paid The caning exceeded his earning, yet witless was[Read More…]

This morning light is not enough For me to wake up My sleep is not yet over Do not disturb my dreams For they are more beautiful Than your reality And I do not have to pay for them. Welcome to the world of free dreams Take a room in this hotel of free dreams Order whatever you want You[Read More…]

In time its caws roused me from my ritual morning immersions: sipping coffee, lacing words together, drawing them like fingers Across the surfaces of life, Yet remaining untouched.   How long it cried out for my attention Before I walked to the window to confront it, I do not know, but I knew it was me it had called.  [Read More…]

Jesus came to me I did not recognise him Marx came to me I did not recognise him Ambedkar came to me I did not recognise him Gandhi came to me I did not recognise him Buddha came to me I did not recognise him Then, I came to me `Who are you?’ I asked ‘I am you…!’ He said[Read More…]

Wait! Wait! Wait! For what? Again another debate? Where plots are set for an organised lie Tantrums of intellectuals, leaving others to die Fire is all set to burn the city Ignoring all the screams in its vicinity Poverty claims who is going to be its next prey Heads gamble lives, Azaadi stands far away Barren hearted farmer walks restlessly[Read More…]

Make an audit of the profit and loss account
From the time of evolution of human life
And the loss of lives of humans and other species
Due to the evolution of human race

Your life and mine deserve nothing better

Than a place in the dustbins that humans failed to create.

For this term of your life
An imagination incomplete
And an unfinished existence
Like the half burnt bodies
Which float on the breasts of Ganga river
Swatch Bharat Ki Jai
For a collection of currency notes
Of no value.

A life was pondering around
Between the sky and the earthworms
Neither there nor here
A life destined to be
Meaningful or meaningless

Last night my mother came in my dreams
She asked me, why do you do what you do?
And I said
`Mother, I don’t do what I should do
And I do what I shouldn’t do’
She just smiled and said
`Do what you ought to do
and don’t do what you shouldn’t do’

Do not be afraid, my dear For your fear is what they want And if you agree with them You will become a stagnant slave. Do not become a slave, my child For your slavery is what they want And if you agree with them You will vanish from this landscape. Do not vanish my darling For your disappearance is[Read More…]

Will all the detergents and
Oceans full water of the world
be sufficient to wash away
The stains of sins
That are committed by these beasts..
On women of this country?

I’ve dropped out of regular learning From WhatsApp Education Academy I will now be dabbler, an occasional Visitor, an irregular scholar I have decided to manage my own consumption of information Away from device dependency, I will regain my ability to remember and store memories, and give myself more time for contemplation, time-in-nature, reading books and face-to-face social interaction I[Read More…]

Spreading the news which is Fake Being promoted for the divisive Sake Selling like a hot Cake It is time to be Awake Through producing the fake News To spread the hatred Views Building the lynching Queues By eradicating the cognitive Fuse Serving the Saffron Ring Masters Creating the lie Posters Under the direction of Communal Promoters It is time[Read More…]

Mountains, a moment’s earth-waves rising and hollowing; the earth too’s an ephemerid; the stars— Short-lived as grass the stars quicken in the nebula and dry in their summer, they spiral Blind up space, scattered black seeds of a future; nothing lives long, the whole sky’s Recurrences tick the seconds of the hours of the ages of the gulf before birth,[Read More…]

Abandoned, forgotten passwords, we will be buried and burnt. Or replaced. Our laughter stripped of its sound bytes will freeze in frames. Our conversations will loiter in the marketplaces of lost cities Their wise songs have gone, dashed against cliffs. Wiping off dewdrops from grass lips, the day stretches. Its grayness splits. A bird sings from a branch. Both are[Read More…]

There are hundreds of ways to silence a woman
stare her down if she happens to laugh out loud
in public space especially in the presence of men
where she should be whispering at side lines
make your dismay quite apparent
if it fails to mortify her

The children will sleep tomorrow
Without the waves of the dead
Women will laugh tomorrow
Without bowing near the graves
If we hold our hands
For a new tomorrow
If we have to survive
To host the new flag of life.

He feels she called him out of love,
So turns, his life jumps up, they run
Joyously into each other’s arms
As the snow falls upon them
For the first time,alone to face
The gathering storm.

Hate Taj Mahal as ‘ Muslim’ mausoleum
After visiting it applauding as India’s ‘ priceless gem’
A wonder!

The pain in my mind Affect my body. The pain in my body Affect my mind. Wonder whether these two Had arranged marriage Or love marriage. Since I remain single I am trying to keep away From these two idiots. K.P Sasi is a film maker, writer, activist and cartoonist. He can be reached at kpsasi36@gmail.com  Hindi Translation दिमाग की[Read More…]

A poem for Lorca, Gauri, Santanu and all the other disappearing fireflies

Let’s not extend it to an ‘end’; your lips, thirty two barricades for my fleet
I once had whiskeys of your sigh, I had laughed off the ice
Beyond the border, two hundred lovers in order
Your desire for the garment martyred mine, my gun shot your soul thrice

No God can punish more
And no God can save.
This walk can only be beautiful
With a determined act of walking
The destination can be empty
But those who walk
Need not feel guilty
For their crime
Of being born as human.

Namo…nnamaha! Vande Mataram!
Mothers and sisters, our salutations to you!
Only make sure your limbs are fully swathed
Smothered with textile, yard upon yard of silk or polyester
Head covered, face veiled with ghungat or scarf.

  A boy often falling over other boys Having a big company of girls Trying to be a classical dancer Hands used to move like waves of a sea Giving everything the perfect texture Had Rabindranath, Had Rituparno Girls spending their time with coffee mugs Discussing about the hunky boys Busy in revealing the underwear Alongwith the serpentine biceps Talks[Read More…]

My harvest without a red bell
From my farm
Beneath the well
Watching those eyes burn
Even when few clouds assist
And few turn soft pillows
Making it my debt
I am the last crop

We met at the wrong time,
which, as chance would have it,
is always the right time. No one
who doesn’t know will ever know
what passion can do to calendars.

Load your revolvers with our blood
While we spill you back with words of truth
Bare as the rising sun
You are a mere coward
Faceless as the night
While we are the shifting names that change to resist
Dabholkar, Kalburgi, Pansare, Gauri
The trail of fire is lit
Aim and Shoot

Big Promises, Big Claims
You have often made
But each of these
Have turned out to be fake

This song is for Agartala-based journalist Shantanu Bhowmik who fell last Wednesday to the marauding wrath of Hindutva-Fascist forces who are stirring race-violence based on historical indignations and inequities in Tripura today

We didn’t listen then
and aren’t listening still.
Perhaps we never will.
Who do you think will win
the Doomsday Bowl?

Perhaps,
One of the main mistakes of my life
Was that I was born.
But I can assure you,
I could not help it.
I was not responsible.

On a summer noon A crow perches (not in want of water) Gripping the bamboo bars of your fence And you yell at it until it flies away from your noise You are angry with the silly bird! The previous week when you offered the pinda In the name of your mother The crow didn’t bother, left you sleepless Wondering[Read More…]

Walls may stall
Movement of humans
But they cannot stop at all
Spread of thoughts and ideas

Freedom is like a metro
Rushing through all stations
Leaving us all behind
In full speed
And our freedom is gone.

Is this life?
Is this the life I had dreamed of?
I might have foreseen big, beautiful things
but all I have in my cup now
is a peg of a poet’s anguish and nothing else.

Life can be killed humans murdered
Flora and fauna completely destroyed
But sounds cannot be hanged
Maimed or mutilated
Sounds cannot be dead
Though ‘ voices’ silenced

Dogs live in a world of smells— succulent, sensual: a melange of sexuality–known and unknown, friendly and prohibitive.   They’re color-blind, love blindly, lead the blind (when so inclined).   Dogs live in the world of Now—leaping catching frisbees, canines gripping, tail-wagging; or—snarling, menacing, loyal to a fault—and faultlessly alert to guard their master’s home;   their master’s spies, their[Read More…]

On the green terrain of the fortitude, I have built a house out of the broken bricks, and the pebbles they had thrown at me. And I have painted my rooms bright, with the redness of the volcanic wound they had bequeathed me. And I’ve planted the thorns they had pierced me with in the garden, hoping to see them[Read More…]

  Deep into the pit Surrounding dark sewage and dirt With nauseated stench And Whole body drench With human urination And defecation Manual scavengers clean Risking lives Leaving family bonds Sitting in cozy toilets And air-conditioned rooms Pass our wastage Into long winding drainage We talk of technology Development and ecology But With their bare hands, legs and misery And[Read More…]

“What type of poem am I?” I am as formless as the clouds, and as elegiac as the silence, in the itinerary of the noise. I am not a classic written by the author God. The rhythms of my verses are supplied by the parable of their tears. I am not in me, though I abide within myself. I am[Read More…]

  No glass in the windows a shell hole in the roof wretched tanks, old fighter jets and rust kissed guns lie around as discarded toys. In the distance traits of dust rises from Anglo-American vehicles running after the Taliban cocoons. Fighter bombers passes overhead repeatedly cough, cold and stomatch bug rules. Nearby, a seven year old child picks up[Read More…]

Atmosphere polluted Food adulterated Water contaminated Earth! Why are you silent? Meandering along The strife – torn lands With people lynching River ! Why are you silent ? (1) Crops failures Farmers suicides Wailing bereaved families Conscience ! Why are you silent? Bombings and shootings Killing Innocents with drones Battles on borders Peace! Why are you silent? Rapes and murders[Read More…]

No, my world!
“I shall never be hopeless …
whatever you may say.
I shall rhyme my life with the
rhythm of God’s chime, and
row my boat of love over the human’s core
until the stream of abhorrence runs dry,”
sang the infant to the world.

My hunger is more red and blue.
More holiness craving passion.
More core to me than your imposing
Dark-kindness and darker-laws.

How many more stars we make?
How many more we need to break the silence
until each one of us become stars?

To lie closer, they folded their plicate wings,
ate blood and shit and the sweat of each other,
retched their names in history’s spittoon,
lay blear-eyed, dreamed-out, dreamless at last.

  I flinched and hid myself to evade her but she spotted me, her prey. Clad in a national dress, and waving the flags of patriotism in the air she came and raped me, scratching my face with razor sharp nails. Red, blood red were her eyes burning with rage as she thundered her national song again and again. Xenophobia[Read More…]

  Bloated stomachs and rust colored hair strolls everywhere in the countryside and city slums, obliged to perish much before their time empty, naked hungry and cold, their figures are like the edge of the world an embarkation point of hope. The tears, spilling out from their heart, a concoction of a broken mirror and a cigarette burning at both[Read More…]

To hunt crocodiles, the pond was dried.
No crocodiles were found because they can live on land too.
But all the small fish died.

Every morning,
she stands
at the murky corner of her room,
and raises her finger to the world.

Several Kashmiri shawls, a wreath of roses,
an expired passport, feathers of the bald eagle,
a Chinese mandolin, an empty wine bottle
and some antique Newari vases,
lay across her feet.

  I came into this world not like the river but like a drop of water and will soon evaporate. Though, I am only a drop of water in the majestic ocean of nature, I yearn to create a vigorous ripple of freedom, in the eternity of the water. For I am a man of eternal freedom, and suppression I[Read More…]

Father, I would have loved you more Had you felt happy When I was born As you felt when at the time of my brother … Dear father, I would have cared you more Had you shared your thoughts On life and property As you did with my brother .. But oh! Father, You commanded me like a priest You[Read More…]

Kawade was expecting his first cup of chai as he flipped through Prajavani In the small balcony adjacent to the living room though his roots took him back to Maratha lineage, His Marathi was laced with Kannada The rituals he followed were a pleasant mix of cultures his ancestors had Followed in a land that they tried to suit Kawade[Read More…]

Biswa goes to watch the movie ‘Kuchka Vikas – Unka Haath’ with his class mates

and just as the national anthem is about to start he gets an epileptic fit

and they slap him with cow leather shoes and

sprinkle cow urine on his face and

as he comes back to his senses

he utters feebly

‘Gau mata ki jai’

and the crowd scatters.

  The morning newspaper was splattered with The Chief Ministers face in every alternate page One was even an illustration that made him look a rock cut monument Wherein he was extolling on the tourist friendliness of his government A government that turns a ripe four years, the headlines boasted Equivalent to 90, if governments were to be compared to[Read More…]

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens

 I am not in you you are not in me. We are as diverse as the stars in the sky; we are not us we are total strangers. You live in the colour of the rainbow and wear the linings of the cloud whereas I live in the silhouette of the tyranny and wear the costume of disparity. You sleep[Read More…]

I am cold
but not numb.

I am silent
but not dumb.

I am not gazing
but not blind.

Plots for Spring to blossom
have been pre-allotted.
Don’t violate the boundaries
and carpet the roads with blossoms
and call it freedom of expression.

Lies propagated as truths
Half – truths and ‘ post truths’
Cannot, for long, hide reality
From vast humanity

During our recent “celebration” of Memorial Day, I heard the rumblings of muscular motorcycles outside my window, on the streets below my apartment in Washington, D.C. There seemed to be many such displays in public places or on TV. A former judge in my apartment building told me about “festivities” taking place at the Kennedy Center, to mark the 100th[Read More…]

  My life Is a ‘ fatal accident’… An unintended incident Clock starts ticking As my heart starts beating Like countdown before a satellite Exploding into the sky straight I become an identity A family’s entity Assume a name, a caste, a sanctity A religion, a member of a community I start becoming greedy Sucking milk from a dead mother’s[Read More…]

a gruesome truth we dare not speak
of violence with its bloody taunt
such terror stories seldom haunt
in lands where casteist pyres reek

it’s really simple. what you need first is
a man, preferably alone, poor or looking
poor, carrying no weapons and exhausted
from work, starving, and apparently
belonging to a lower caste or a muslim.

I wish I remain
In the cozy lap of mother Earth
Safe without pain
Of germination and growth …

As the Devil tiptoes into the room, The little girl’s hands seize the cane As he walks towards doom, His gaze fixed at her bane Brutus will make his deft move, But Caesar’s honour will not demise No longer trapped under his cove, The Damini in her is swift to rise Daddy’s little girl is now mature Ready to strike[Read More…]

Government of the blowjobs, by the blowjobs, and for the blowjobs
Government of the warmongers, by the warmongers, and for the warmongers
Is not war the ultimate blowjob?

Oh! Mother of civilization !
We are out to destroy
The meticulous creation
You nourished for us to enjoy

Three eruptions of unintentional poetry plucked from prose works, on topics ranging from homelessness in India to neocolonialism to death.

But if you risk life
Continue strife
Spread collective power
High over the infinite ‘ Sky’ tower
Will the big brother follow you?

Welcome to the nation!
‘ Doctor President’ Erdogan!
Let dictatorship and despotism
Integrate fanaticism with fascism!

Sun zooms into sky
Like aspirations of workers of ‘ Maruti Suzuki ‘
Toiling daily with casting and moulding
And turning and fitting
Gears, accelerators and brakes
Or cushioned seats and side glasses
In the sweltering heat
And iron rust

Early January 1977 Just out of Harvard Law Looking for a job Landing at Yale Law 26 years old 2 hour faculty presentation In faculty lounge To my right Dean Harry Wellington Arrayed left and right Across the room Yale Law Faculty all Most distinguished crowd   Sitting in the back Directly opposite Clear line of sight Glaring right at[Read More…]

The battle lines were drawn up.
The snow girls with books in backpacks.
The olive green troopers with guns.
An eagle perched on a white cloud
relayed the proceedings to Times Now.

When I hear the degradation of nature I think of the tender touch of Helen Keller! When I hear of the inhuman bombings of warmongers I remember the odyssey of Homer …! When I read of children with hunger I console myself in the music of Stevie Wonder When there are so many suffering around me Still living with hope[Read More…]

Then he thought he should have a drink
And all the bars were closed.
They told him ` get married and you will be fine’
Then he just asked them this:
`Will it cover my nudity?’

And when the dead bodies do not wake up
I keep telling myself
That it is safer to get drunk
On the silence of the graves.

To see the planet whole;
To know our place upon it;
To nurture and restore it;
To abide in moderation,
With compassionate humility;
That the arts might consecrate us—
I voted.

Share the bounty of the Earth!
Make a joyful sound!
A teaspoon’s worth
can give new birth;
let the hills resound–
there’s plenty to go around,
sharing in rebirth.

This is the wall of stone faces
This is the plain of lost skulls
How much blood must fallow
Before we’ve had enough?

When Jesus and the Buddha met
in a meadow of larkspurs, on a balmy day,
the bees of the valley went mad with love,
the sky and the sun were a glaze.
“Let us sit on the grass,” said Buddha.
And they rested their traveling bones.
One in cambric, the other in saffron,
and the air was the color of amber.

The tender coconut that you once gave me
Was certainly more tasty,
Than a nation you have offered
To keep me alive and to shape a meaning
For your existence than mine!

The pain of birth. A breathing child arrives With the loudest unhappy tears Cursing the entry into this planet Yearning to be where once belonged. The pain of death. Clinging to the last breath Refusing to leave the touch of fresh air Hated at the time of arrival. A last struggle to maintain The life which floated on air. You[Read More…]

This time around, Siddhartha let Yashodhara go to attain nirvana instead of you. In your colourful palace she sits forlorn. The colours fail to brighten her day. They disgust her. Yashodhara will leave you with a delicate flower in your bosom. Not to worry, you’ve attained enlightenment, right? You’ll figure this one out too. Look at the forlorn footprints behind[Read More…]

One day
I will open the windows of my dreams
to watch men and women
young and old
hugging and kissing
singing and dancing
without the poison of hatred
and without the guilt
of their silence.