Hole

U burn a hole in my head
Through which sink
A butterfly
An emerald rose
The ink bottle
Our bruised lips

I walk slowly, cautiously
Lest I step on to them

Another Landscape

Your tongue paints shadows of the mist on my breast
While your fingertips trace the wild grass that spring from my navel
You drench me in fire as your lips move to another crevice
And the sun rises every time your eyes meet mine
Don’t stop
Don’t stop
Melt away the silence of the icicles that have gathered in every crease of my body
I have been wanting to burst into rain

The Women

I painted blue women for those who leave behind unwanted stories about themselves
I painted the red set remembering those who swallow fire and leave behind ashes in the dust
The pallid yellow for those who tortured themselves and left behind the scars
The green for mothers and daughters and wives

What shall I paint for those who leave nothing behind
Nothing that sing or whisper or drown
Those who draw and erase every line they live
And vanish in a split second of time

Rendezvous

They must meet someday
Your demons and mine
Quietly over coffee they must discover each other
Resting their elbows gently on the table
In almost the same manner in which we explored ourselves years ago
They must hover over each other and share
Their secret fetishes for darkness
Your demons and mine
What makes you choose retreat over passion or passion over faith
What makes me ignore frailties of time or slice with words till the moon turns blue
What breaks you shut or makes me leave
What lies beneath
Your demons and mine.
It's in their nature
Cloak and dagger
Appear and disappear
Your demons and mine
While the cards lie on the table
A few hide up the sleeves
They perform
Your demons and mine
Bury and show
Smile and wink
Playing poker
Your demons and mine.

Your demons and mine
Must get to know each other before we are convinced of our own self justified selves
They must meet over coffee
Naked, unearthed.

Smile

Like a thin trickle of water gently trembling onto a dark green lotus leaf
Your smile settles into my eyes
I stretch out my open palms pressed together in earnest
To hold its fall if it slips and drops

Ma

Ma

Ma, for I wanted to be your dream
For I wanted to rhyme every word you never uttered
For I wanted to scream in your silent voice
Ma, for I could not

For all my dreams I dreamt on my own of which you were not a part
For all those bruises of battles I lost inspite of you
For every land of tears I discovered without you
Ma, I author for you

The Curse

You always tell me the truth
Hitting me between my eyes with the sharpness of your judgement
If I want to hide, you seek me out and sit me down to listen
All the seams I refuse to mend
All the plants I refuse to water
All the glasses I throw out of the window just to hear it crash on the pavement
You always tell me the truth
About my anger and angst
My denials and masks
My pity.
My lies.
You send me away everytime I try
To squeeze and slither back into frame

The Splinters

Another day without a sky
Splinters me into many tiny unspoken words
I hear the mating songs
Through light years of waiting
And see how leaves turn to bile
I know of secret places
Regurgitating memories
And touch men
Who turn to moss at the water’s edge
I comb stories in the sand
Tragic ballads to keep me occupied
Another day without a sky
Splinters me into many tiny unspoken words

To you in darkness..

Moving from one darkness to another
Stepping on stars…then quickly slipping into the abyss between them…
Fast…quick short paces…defining each movement away from it
But it catches on…
Sniffs me out…in every bubble of a moment…every snap in the vacuum
I remain….cursed…stalked by the Sun.

What remains...

Losing a person close to you sometimes is like losing a set of eyes that were your own
Partially blinded then, you search for the moon arbitrarily hung in your closet
Memories lose their bite much earlier than the smell of ink
And you expect the words to rise out of their slumber and trace the lines on your face
Just like the monsoon wind did in another lifetime.