They are burning effigies, it’s that time of the season, Ones in flesh and bones are hatching crimes of the season. Bandits from the barrens decree beheading of the infidel, And savour blinkered women over the wine of the season.…
Category: Poems
My Aunt’s Lollipops
Such divinations were planted in my ears by my aunt who died on a cloudy day, spelling out the mantra for absolute cheers by watching out the omens sent my way. Cruising for success never comes by stepping on the…
The Aroma of Darkness
Many a mouldy mantilla surround the lights like a veil, shapeless shores of myopia, met me early in the trail. To a lad with glassy countenance, came a haze following the smoke, a kinsman dubbed astigmia to lend next layer…
I Knew I Shall Weep
Where walkways were fragrant with you, I shall weep, It was not till I left your city, I knew I shall weep. Affinity is at discount in the market of subsistence; There are thousands in the meandering queue, I shall…
A Holus-Bolus Odyssey
The page remained unblemished across the night, waiting for letters. But why sniffle a haiku When one can weep a sea? The peepal tree has a new, green sheath. It shimmers and quivers in the barely felt breeze. Everywhere around…
The Springtime Wind —A Translation
Basanti Hawa, or the 'Springtime Wind', was the first Hindi poem I fell in love with, early in my childhood. It is written by Kedarnath Agarwal, a much-awarded doyen of Hindi Literature. The poem captures the freshness, fullness and the…
The Cleaver of Oblivion
The Milky Way is white and frigid with the fever of oblivion; A billion suns will be battered by the cleaver of oblivion. Remember not the love songs lost nor the updraughts of passion; Drowned in a moat of disdain,…
Malice of Zinfandel
Silver grey on temple peaks is the fern of the New Year. The sun has grown wrinkles at the turn of the New Year. Candlelit stilettos turned sherry red in a nightclub, Istanbul is freshly dug cavern of the New…
A Byte of Moonshine
Sharpen now a crescent for the rite of moonshine, Bullets will not halt the flight of moonshine. Clouds germinate on the zephyrs from wet hills, The heart leaps windward with the kite of moonshine. I count my blessings over…
A Dewdrop Ghazal
Get me worms of silk for the runes and a dewdrop, Seven folds of veil for a cocoon and a dewdrop. The mirror is in youth, and the jasmine in bloom, Smoky is the kohl like the moon in a…
With the Cicadas
The evening is long with shadows of the afternoon chopped and spent at the edges of green black leaves of pubescent jackfruit trees. With the cicadas I pause and creek. With the cicadas I wax and shrink. A blackbird took…
The Song of Jar Jar Binks
I can smell the diction Taliban just beyond my window. I can hear the rat-a-tat of their words, its robotic monotony, rattle of Kalashnikov. Peeking out the pane, I see skyscrapers raised on cacophony of flakes and wafers; buzz and…
One Grain Amongst the Storm 