Poetry

I1 of 18

1997–2000

titled as “4” · Poems (1997–2000)

The fawn, wounded, was limping on
I saw her, wanted to dress her wound,
but she kept going
away from me.
As if I would hurt her more

Soon it was dark,
and I
lost my way.

II2 of 18

1997–2000

titled as “11” · Poems (1997–2000)

I am getting my jaw removed.

       ‘cause of all the pain.
              the talk,
              the smile,
              the muse,
              the talk
              the shave
              the cut,
              the blood,
              the talk
              same.
I am getting my lower jaw removed.

III3 of 18

1997–2000

titled as “16” · Poems (1997–2000)

confusing
tidy room

risk, playing around
not afraid to see too much;
the bulb won’t phase out.

losing things
building up,
never blaming the postman,
for the missing sweets.

he-she domains
food-stains
cozy cigarette butts.

a drop of ginger
on my tongue, chastened
by bread.

I’ll never leave this house,
I’ll never lose the key
of the lock,

My parents discussing
my case history
with the ants,
Before;

spilt milk.

Selling governments
buying art,

sleep and sobriety
talking contradictions,

lozenge of realization
swallowed with cough.

The sun doesn’t pay me
attention enough, to get me

to listen, to him.

IV4 of 18

2005

titled as “envelopes” · fish out of water

a ride home and away
a pendulum
a terrain empty and full
moonlight blue

There is no if in trust
a handshake
a hello
a strike rate

an envelope

a gate
when did risk ever matter enough
to abstain?
The telephone

the shower-bath
the pingpong game
the dunlop
I am with you,
we can meet again.

V5 of 18

2005

titled as “easier flight” · fish out of water

It is
easier
to make
your
lover
smile,

than
to
make

a

balloon

fly,

VI6 of 18

2005

titled as “weighbridge” · fish out of water

Smiles in transcend
If you have money lend.
singers begging on the streets
for eager ears and pockets deep.

samesamesamesame
vainvainvainvain

a tiger on the prowl
wants to eat your daughter
your field of corn.

the tiger is corrupt
if you let him peep
its enough.

since when have mothers started
weighing their children.
On the weighbridge
in their father’s eyes ?

yessirnosiryessirno
I don’t want to be a soldier
and I won’t
go

everyone will disbelieve.
the prime minister will call the thieves,
the prime minister will roll a
rough cigarette,
and smoke it while he pees
on the open streets.

VII7 of 18

2005

titled as “42” · fish out of water

lotuses have blue eyes, in their hungry tummies.
They can see you swim by, thinking how good

they’d look in your drawing room.

don’t think you are getting away.

VIII8 of 18

2005

titled as “under the sink” · fish out of water

red roses in a dark night, I count the stars,
The night sky is silent, I open my fridge
I don’t see her photograph, whereas
pomegranates and apples are free.
Its impossible to look anywhere, and not find myself
staring back. Whereas my house is leaked with
soap water. Walking is tough. Successful entrepreneurs
scale the heights, singers sing love songs and rupture
into limelight, almost overnight. I can’t toss a coin
because I don’t want to lose, and I don’t know what
wins. Driving myself around the town, my mind when
at peace, frights, that it will float away. I spill
ketchup on my grey t-shirt. India  might be a
vast country, with riches infinite. But the way I see,
neither am I at home, nor am I a foreigner.
Poets are useful only to write trite election
by-lines. Rest of the time, they should rest under
the sink, with the cockroaches.

IX9 of 18

2005

titled as “those stars” · fish out of water

I was interested in the stars; as a child
If I had a bit of sense, which my father
did think I had. I would have
pursued my astronomy,
and would have been in PALO-ALTO
today or somewhere else. Instead

I became a poet, and I look at the
stars only at night, when I’m hungry
and broke.

X10 of 18

2005

titled as “Buy A House, Buy A Car” · A Song of Uncertainty

What all do you have to lose
to climb a sugar cube and be shiny
to speed a car and turn it around
to always have shutterbugs bug?

Producers have malicious bouncers
they strip you before you enter
of all your airs and all your teeth
dry from umbrage taken,
they like to roll about words
like industry culture public
and you want to puncture their tummies.

Will there be a day
when everyone'll be wearing
crazy t-shirts which
one can never buy on the streets?

Today everyone sits around with a pound of butter
and a plastic knife
a pound of butter
and a plastic knife.
They feel responsible feel powerful
slip on waxed floors.
Don't socialize idealize,
sit up and listen.
Talk into the mirror,
claim a voice.

What all do you have to lose
to stage a casting couch
to exchange sex for work?
What all do you have to lose
to change your faith
to marry his wife
abandon your child?
What all do you have to lose
to be a film star
frothing at your mouth,
buy a house buy a car?

XI11 of 18

c. 2007

untitled

cyrogenic face-lifts, dumb punches, heartfelt snow.
everything for a purpose.
people will always meet after gaps
and ask questions, raise fingers.
I will bury my epitome, my unknown,
my weapons, outside your house. enter unarmed.
you will examine. judge. fudge accounts
which have nothing to do with you.
still I will persist, chase your earrings,
chase the buzz, of the night
to the silver-chest. claim some stars as my own;
create another possibility for accident.

XII12 of 18

21 June 2025

titled as “FOURTEEN” · ONE to TWENTY-FIVE

An elevator to where rhinos swim

XIII13 of 18

21 June 2025

titled as “NNETEEN” · ONE to TWENTY-FIVE

Scale operates in a delusion.
It is never true.

One is a window
Two is a door

but neither has any answer.
or the current score.

XIV14 of 18

21 June 2025

titled as “TWENTY” · ONE to TWENTY-FIVE

go there
don’t come here,
because this a platform,
not a station.

I cannot walk for you
nor you for me.

XV15 of 18

3 April 2026

untitled

The protocol is to say
nothing.

compulsively

if you say something
someone might figure something

or worse, someone might not figure anything at all.

so it is better - to not say
anything
at all.

I hold myself back
so hard;
as if trying very hard
not to clench my fist.
lest somebody suspect
an attempt to show force
for which no evidence exists.

else it can easily
seem
like an
empty
show of force

XVI16 of 18

6 May 2026

untitled

the silence has a sting
But only for so long.

access leads to blur
because we all grope around

but darkness is presence.

holes are not cavities.

what can be read is not necessarily text.

when my eyes talk to yours,
I lose something.

XVII17 of 18

10 November 2026

untitled · six words, three words, six words

algorithmic fact needlessly; continual shaken
— apologize dispersion
twice emperor devouring ( defeat patiently

XVIII18 of 18

10 November 2026

untitled · six words, three words, six words

tea macro-time after-taste offended ignition;
dough inculcated supposedly
improvise — disparity confusion, moot