SLOW SEPTEMBER

Moonlight fell

one drop at a time;

a face moved 

from nonchalance to joyous

and back

in a thousand frames;

and between sigh of relief

and sigh of longing 

slumbered a cluttered, cluttering century;

it was the slowest September 

in remembered history. 

[from the collection 'Stray kites on string-less days]

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THE HEALING EYE

The unguent that cures doubt

the pill to dispel sorrow

the bandage that sets right misread-twists 

the injection against leaving

the inhaler that un-congests heart

the as-gunaya that gives bliss:

that’s love’s gaze and gaze-reception

from beginning to end,

through a century and a moment.

[from the collection 'Stray kites on string-less days]

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In the line of duty

Some say it’s just a job

And others in chest-filled proclamation

Burst a badge called ‘for the betterment of all’

Some say nothing at all,

They do and die

And all, without exception, are tagged with agency:

‘I chose!’

But there’s a bark that wasn’t recorded

A whimper lost in translation,

a tail that doesn’t wag;

‘God made man in His own image’

they say,

but perhaps the Egyptians got it right.

*Pic by Kani Pr of two bomb-sniffing dogs who died in an explosion.

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BIRTHINGS

All my walls are worded

the eye-sore by-product

the confused graffiti

the heart-write nevertheless

of being

waiting for a window to open

just a square inch 

so a liquid universe can pour out

and clean slate:

how I live for these re-birthings!

[From the collection 'Stray kites on string-less days']

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A KOAN UNTOUCHED BY RAIN

Under the umbrella

stopping the hard rain

drenched in

sil-suwanda white,

I saw.

Had I sinned, I wondered,

had I not?

Was the distance to exit lengthened

did I get closer,

was composure wrecked

or resurrected?
I do not know.

The mind came to a halt

before her.

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Daha-Ata Sanniya PLUS

The humours in their pernicious gatherings

spit and pout, visit and nibble

and body and mind

in their imperfections

shiver, sweat and weep

their physiological discomfort

and take their birth-right endowments

of faith and belief

as per custom and ritual of the age

gift as appropriate to the expiator

‘doctor’ to some, ‘gurunnanse’ to others

equipped to exorcise disease-clusters

clothed in anxiety and credulity;

some are healed, we know

but bodies and minds

are ready prey for pharmaceuticaled greed

gentlemened now as science

and not vilified as hogwash

in the political economy of cultured medication,

a sanniya in its own right

with more than 18 manifestations

Inspired by the photography of Ishara Kodikara

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Knowing

There will come a moment
when words and claims,
misgivings and coyness
things spiced and things dialed down
are irrelevanced
and in that pin point
on the road map

of longing and reticence
without interface
without the million questions

about the what’s-not-said
I will look into your eyes
and will know.

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