The Wait, The Body Takes Over, and Everyone's Poems

All three poems listed in this post appeared on Coffee Shop Poems, a repository of poems curated by Tim Knight (@coffeeshoppoems on Twitter).

The Wait, published in March 2014, on was among the poems written years ago. It first appeared on this blog on January 28, 2008, but again it is likely to have been written earlier than that. I do remember what I was feeling when I wrote this, though. It was one of those depressing days, where nothing interesting seemed to be happening to me. I was trying to capture in the words of this poem the feeling of loneliness that accompanies a wait for something or someone.

The Body Takes Over was published in April 2014. This is one of the poems that shamelessly celebrate the sexuality of women. I wrote three-four on this theme in late 2009, when I was going through a phase of being in and out of relationships. Rather than succumbing to feeling "like a slut", I decided to make myself feel privileged as the one who was not afraid of her sexuality and its consequences. This poem first appeared on this blog on November 29, 2009.

Everyone's Poems went up on the site in September 2014. Written in 2011 and first posted here on February 10, 2011, this bunch of micropoems is about little things that anyone can relate to. If I remember right, this was written in my early insomniac phase, when I used to sit after work into the wee hours, staring at the dark sky and hoping for more of the moon. The original entry had one additional poem than the numbers featured on Coffee Shop Poems, and I took it out before submitting because it did not seem quite relevant now.

This compilation of my published works is also listed on Facebook in an album format. 

Untitled

ज़रा सी आहट आई तुम्हारी 

और दिल मचल गया;

ज़रा सा छू लिया तूने बदन 

तो साँसे थम गयी;

ऐ जानेमन रुक जा वहीँ

वरना तेरे रोनक से मेरा आँचल जल जाएगा....

Don't love me so

The moonlight shone on the glasspanes
Like your love shining in my eyes.
The wind caressed the shadows
Like your breath upon my neck.
The little kitten purred incessantly
Like your whispers in my ears.

Nature seems to plotting with you against me.
Don't love me so!

Patients

Love demands appreciation,
It craves remuneration,
It asks to be given time,
It lives on constant attention.

Alas, my darling,
We have nothing for each other
except our sighs.
We are terminally ill patients of love.

They called it so

A vague little glee, And they called it Love. A tense little moment And they called it Fear. A slight anxiety And they called it Stress. A mere numbness And they called it Death.

What's wrong?

For some, I’m born at the wrong place,

For some, the time is wrong;

For others, my birth is too late,

For more, my family is wrong.

In the end I wake up from nightmares

And look into the mirror.

There too, I find the wrong reflection.

My Love Is A Cat

My love is a cat,

Waiting to pounce upon you as you enter my life.

Its curiosity is a killer,

Its fearlessness a danger.

Everyone's poems

I.
Tears hijacked his dreams,
Fear overtook love.
In rotating ceiling fans
And rolling hips of dancers,
He searched for them both.

II.
I sold myself to the wrong people,
The wrong people solicited my souls.
Amid a flurry of wrongs,
My heart set out to claim some rights.

III.
The blue veins shone through her fair skin,
And the knife in her hand glistened.
The brightness of the red spilled
Was also never disputed.

IV.
Rheumatism, Arthritis, Blood pressure, Insomnia;
There was no ailment she was not proud of.

V.
Inhale,
Exhale,
Dust, smoke, CO2, NO and a little oxygen.
The human is contented.

VI.
There's nothing to cry for in grief -
Too common, Too plebian, Too low.
There's nothing to laugh in glee -
Too fickle, Too smug, Too depraved.
The saint sought them all in saffron,
And God.
Amen.

Her and me (and sometimes him)

NOTE: It is quite fascinating to imagine a third person between two - be it friends, lovers or even parents or siblings. My imaginations of the same produce the following poems, and some before that [You and I (and sometimes another)]. Some of the imagery may be repetitive, but feel the grip of that invisible third person as you read these. Enjoy!

I.
Every time I look for him, she comes before me.
Every time I think of him, her memory becomes vivid.
Every time he talks to me, she sneers from behind his shoulder.
I am shadowed by her ghost that lives with him.

II.
She doesn't need to be called,
She doesn't need to be known,
She doesn't need a name,
She doesn't need no fame:
I know it is her, and she knows it is me,
And there begins the story of her, me and him.

You and I (and sometimes another)

I.
It is not just you and I.
It's the world.
And yet we doubt,
cringe,
crib,
and cry at our failures.
Ours, we say,
And lament again.

II.
I looked into the mirror
And saw you.
She was by your side too.
We looked a pretty pair -
You, me and she.

And yet there was an ugliness,
damp as the thunderstorm outside,
making the mirror vapour-ridden.

Suddenly the images become distorted
And we all merge into each other,
forming a shape none of us know.

III.
Your words speak my thoughts
Your poems express my emotions
Your touch resonates my yearning.
My darling,
You and I are meant to be One.

I complete your sentences
I embody your imagination
I blow life into your breath.
My darling,
You and I are meant to be One.

IV.
Where did she come from,
like a sprout on the window sill
After a week of rain?

What is she doing here,
like a blown strand of hair
rolling on the floor amid dust?

Where is she taking you,
like the witches of yore
who enchant and destroy?

V.
You licked my ears,
tingling the soul,
And I heard her laugh
in those very ears.

You cupped my breast
with trembling hands
And I felt her touch,
I saw her shuddder.

You kissed my neck
with a soft-falling breath
And I knew her smell
upon your pink lips.

I see her in you.
Whom do you see in me, darling?

Snippets from a poet's mind

I.
The eyes once refused
to see the colours of hope.
And now the darkness has settled upon them.

II.
We heard a song together once
And rode upon its lyrics to heaven.
I came crashing down when the CD got stuck,
And you got stuck in the audio output wire.

III.
Those memories pain me yet.
What do they do to you, dear?

IV.
I want to be like the tides,
That rejoice in nothing but the frolic
of carrying memories
but not in burden, not in pain.

V.
I look out of the window every time
I hear the mating screech of kites.
They care not for a dime
Of my two watchful eyes.

VI.
I watch the clock tick,
Listen to the chirp of birds,
Feel the breeze from the ceiling fan,
Follow the notes of my thoughts.

I'm quite busy, darling.
No time for sorrows, loneliness or pain.

VII.
True to my word,
I didn't speak to you so long.
But what about the million conversations
We carry out in my head every day?

Love

We dig into each other lustfully,
Displaying no shard of love.
In the bare greed of the body,
We seek each other out blindly
And hack and pant endlessly.

In the end, you rest your face on my chest,
And the corner of your eyes are wet.
There I know you love me.

Happy song

I don't know, I feel tappy...
Just happy to be happy...
Happy because I am not sad,
Happy because I know all are not bad.
Happy to be alive,
Happy to survive;
Happy that I have friends like you,
Happy that all are happy too!

A love song

Oh how my heart skips a beat,
How the skin longs for a touch,
How my fingers search for a pair
When you pass by my chair.

Hours of talking sweet nothings,
Hours of yearning follows then,
Hours of dreaming, praying, wanting,
How my heart longs for your chest!

The pleasure in those eyes,
The warmth in the smiles,
The love that drips down the sweaty skin,
Oh I wish I had them for ever...

The Bodies Speak

I.
How does
The rub of bare skin against another
Rouse so much pleasure
As to release a burden
And lighten your mind?
Why does it
Lead to so much thoughts
and feelings and expectations
And judgements on values and mores?

II.
One wonder, unquenched,
Is the pleasure of my skin on you.
How do we lick away so lustfully
The sweat of pleasure as if they were dew?
What do you see in my eyes
That makes you smile so heartily?
Why do I let you touch me deep
And return the pleasure as greedily?
One mystery, undeciphered,
Is the love that increases with each pain.

Lost

I've lost sense of time
Sense of space
And that of life;
I've lost touch with reality,
Lost the world,
And self to the grind....

The seductress

Every little curve of her body
was made to cast a web
on the men who looked upon her.
Each smile of hers
was designed to trap her admirers.

And admire you will,
For she is the enchantress,
The supreme seductress:
You cannot resist her,
You cannot desist her.

Him, her and me

I dance to the tune he composed for her,
I chase the dreams he saw with her;
I walk the roads they paved together,
I relish the love they shared.

I,
live with them,
And they,
know not who I am.

IF...

If all troubles could fly off in the smoke of the cigarettes I blow,
Ah, life would be so easy.

If the tears could drown in the pegs of alcohol I down every day,
Ah, life would be a bliss.

If the smiles could multiply like the virus in the computers,
Ah, what pleasure living would be.

If you and I could be together with no regrets,
Ah, that would be a fantasy come true.

Hand

If just once, somebody made me their priority,
If just once, somebody held my hand and walked with me,
If just once, somebody kept a hand above my head
and patted my back,
...
My life has become an eternal journey seeking that one hand.