Yala

Pic by Ishara S. Kodikara

Differently coloured sibling
non-identical twin
of city space
and urban things,
territory of the timeless
the hide and seek
and seek for hide,
target and shoot,
spotted meat
and jaw-jaw
fang and claw,
vistor’s unmercuried mirror
reflecting but unseen.

[Inspired by the photography of Ishara S Kodikara, published in the UNDO Section of 'The Nation', August 5, 2012]

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Kite Mornings

Three days ago a kite was snatched twisted in telephone wires
it lost its tongue
and the braggadocio of flight
went silent.
Two days ago it lost its frills
in the taunt of wind,
sun and dew will remove blush
by and by;
kites are life-proxies
for the pilikul bhavanava
the meditation on impermanence,
the decay of all things wonderful
the skin-deep of joy
perishes faster than flesh-bone swagger
and I watch kite-part drop
every morning I see a little boy
numbed in a string-less moment,
every morning I see him grow
taller and wiser
and wonder
how tall is tall enough
to catch kite and extract
from kite-piece
the pieces of his narrative
unwritten but read.

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Duel of the fates

Shadow warriors all,
and shadow dancers too,
one with another
and one with oneself
this way and that
in gesture and step
the bowing of head
for respect or grace
the swaying and stand-up
caress and cluth
free-float and abandonment
where night is light
and day dismal
in the artificiality of hour
and ephemerality of choice
the connecting of worlds
and discarding of prop
unruly in wild-hair ways
in the lost, found
and the somewhere between
of dueling days.
 
[Inspired by the photography of Natalie Soysa]


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