Lotus

A faraway flower
a philosophy and alibi
aspiration and proxy
a touchable touch-me-not
in the anxieties and logic
in the clasping and love
in the moment and illusion
of our fears and exuberance
ordained and disrobed
plucked and offered
in a withering seen
but unacknowledged:
a keles bloomage, then.

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Brow

If eye mirrors soul
then this eye also speaks,
in its complexioned
and uncomplexioned tone
in accompaniment twitch
to voice and eye-speak,
in worry lines
and skin-bits
between hair strand
saying words held back
and at times slipping
the word not meant
but brow
like eye
can be closed with fingertip
with word
silence
or kiss.

 

Un-coloring unnoticed

From SONGS FOR BALACHANDRAN I

What moon was there that night

was it crescent shaped or full
what mothers’ breasts went dry
what eyes were turned away
what in the thrust and withdraw
was left behind,
what was taken
what were the colors
of imagined tomorrows
and why did time un-color
these massacres
boy,
did anyone tell you
did you ask
did you wonder?

[From the book 'A child by any other name' by Malinda Seneviratne and Sandra Mack]

Autumn leaf in a leafless branch lattice

Pic by Sakuna Gamage

Two-dimensional capture
of multi-layered story,
calls for third-eye reconstruction
of solitude and fall
stillness and contrast
a heart in a barren universe
an error of nature
a peculiarity that wrecks average
an eye-tease graphic
a narrative of our days
our formalities
and our ‘neverthelesses’. 

[Inspired by the photography of Sakuna Gamage]

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Other floralities

The earth will bloom
in the union
of water and sun
in the cohabitation
of heart and sinew
for blindness will not color-blind
and that which war removes
life’s remnant will recover;
will fade, yes
will gather dust, yes
wilt as all things wilt
die as all things die
but in interim splendor
survive the bludgeonings
rise above suffering
please for a while
mark for a while
the infinities
of human thanksgiving
in the clasp and yield
of these other battles
sweet in unscented fragrance
less tender to touch
but as soft to eye.
 
[Inspired by the photography of Chandana Wijesinghe]

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